Page 51 of At First Catch

The warmth that spreads through my chest at those words feels deeply unfair.

I type back before I can overthink it.

Me

Are you?

The response doesn’t come.

And suddenly, I can picture her somewhere at the farm staring at her phone exactly the way I’m staring at mine now.

Waiting. Thinking. Feeling too much.

Hadley

Nolan.

Just my name. Soft even through text.

My chest tightens.

Me

That’s not an answer.

I pinch my bottom lip between my thumb and forefinger as I wait.

Hadley

Maybe that should concern both of us.

A shiver traces its way down my spine, leaving a trail of goose bumps in its wake. I know exactly what she means.

I look out over the marina while the last light bleeds across Back Bay and realize something dangerous has already started happening between us.

Not just attraction.

Not just chemistry.

Something deeper.

Something building itself carefully in all the spaces between almost touches and late-night texts and lingering looks across weathered docks.

And the worst part?

I don’t think either of us wants to stop it anymore.

By the time I pull into Otter Creek Farm just before six, my nerves are doing something deeply unfamiliar.

Not anxiety exactly.

Awareness.

Like my entire body understands I’m stepping into something important before my brain has caught up.

The Wright family farmhouse glows warmly beneath the fading evening sky, porch lights casting soft gold across the front steps while amusement drifts faintly through open windows.

Every porch light is on. Somebody left the screen door open. Cries of joy spill out before I even shut off the truck. Nobody looks surprised to see another car pull into the driveway. They’d simply expected one more chair would be needed.