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There was only one downfall: I couldn’t physically cook for one person. I always ended up with way too much food, which was what solidified the potentially disastrous idea in my head. As I stood there staring at the number Charlie had sent me, my stomach churned violently. Feeling queasy, I pressed the call button before I could talk myself out of it. The line rang, and my heart thundered against my ribcage.

“Hello?”

CHAPTER FIVE

I considered hanging up the moment I heard Hurricane Thompson in the background.

“Hey! Dudes and littler dude, I’m on the phone! Hello?”

“Are you hungry?” I blurted, moving toward the oven.

“Um… wait, Jay?” Dishes clattered and chairs scraped across the floor. Ryan tried one more time to get the kids to sit down, then a door shut, separating him from the noise.

“Guilty,” I said, setting the cast iron pan on the counter and pacing around the kitchen. “I uh, I guess I’m not used to cooking for one anymore. I didn’t realize until I was done that… no one was coming home to join me. To be completely honest this house is a little too quiet.”

Ryan didn’t say anything. I kicked myself for the word vomit, wondering if I’d just screwed up everything.

Then I wondered what “everything” meant.

“Stacy just got home,” he finally said. “I can be there after cleaning up whatever nuclear macaroni disaster is happening in the kitchen.”

I took a breath so deep that it made my chest ache. “Yeah, that’s… fine. I’ll text you my address.”

“See you soon.”

Ryan hung up first, and I stood in the middle of my kitchen. I wasn’t entirely sure what possessed me to invite the man over for dinner. Without much clarity from the phone call, I didn’t know what he expected. Hell, I didn’t know what I expected.

Putting everything in the oven to stay warm, I rushed to my bedroom to change my clothes. Upon re-entering the kitchen, there was a knock at the door—and my stomach leapt into my throat. I knew Hazelbrush was small, but I wasn’t expecting him to be so quick. Part of me wasn’t expecting him to show up at all.

When I saw the man at my front door, my heart felt liable to burst right out of my chest. I couldn’t believe how nervous I was.

“Hi,” he said, his voice cutting through the silence. Ryan had one hand in his pocket, holding a bottle of red wine in the other.

“You didn’t have to bring anything,” I told him, taking the bottle from him and stepping aside. “Thank you.”

“It would have been rude of me not to.” He glanced around the living room. “Wow. You live here by yourself?”

“I guess I do now,” I sighed. “Maybe I can’t handle the quiet.”

Ryan rotated to face me. I hung near the front door, watching him take in my childhood home. “What about your friend?”

“Which friend?”

“The one that was watching us like you were thirteen and had a girl over for the first time.”

“Oh, Charlie.” Remembering how to make my legs move, I went to the kitchen and took down two wine glasses. “She’s like a sister to me. I’m assuming that explains why she’s so…”

“Nosy?” Ryan interjected.

“That’s putting it lightly.”

Ryan laughed, and the sound sent a shiver down my spine.

What the fuck?

“It smells incredible in here,” he commented, accepting the glass of wine I handed him. “What’d you make?”

“Chicken pot pie. After yesterday, I was craving some comfort food.”