Tumble (Dogwood Lane #1)(74)

I take a drink of my perfectly brewed coffee. It’s so spot-on, it’s almost annoying. “It doesn’t matter. I came back here.”

“Which thrills me because I was going nuts without you.” She throws up her hands. “When I got your text, I lost my cool in the middle of the salon. No one has any sense in this city, Neely. No one.”

“Well, I lost it in the middle of my apartment last night. You should’ve come over. We could’ve flipped out together.”

She furrows a brow. “What was wrong with you?”

“Oh, the people who live above me were pounding around all night. More car alarms went off than I thought possible. The hot water took ten years to warm. Need more?”

Grace laughs, her bangles clamoring together on her wrist. “You spent way too much time in the boonies.”

“No joke. It’s definitely going to take some time to readjust.”

To readjust. What a nice way to put it. I don’t need to adjust again to life here. What I need is to figure out why I feel like something is missing. Or wrong. I didn’t leave on the oven or a curling wand, and I picked up all my mail at the post office. So why on earth do I feel like something needs to be done?

“Neely?”

“Yeah,” I say, coming out of my daze. A dull throb taps away at my temple. I just want to close my eyes and go to sleep.

“Tell me about Dane.”

My eyes snap to my friend’s. She’s drinking her caffeine, watching me carefully.

I don’t want to talk about him. I don’t want to go there at all. But knowing Grace, this conversation will have to happen, so I might as well get it over with.

“He’s gentle and kind, but fierce and loyal,” I say, the words coming easier as I go. “Watching him with Mia will melt you in your shoes. He reads her bedtime stories and spoils the crap out of her, but she has chores to do and he makes her do them.”

I get settled in my chair.

“Mia has him wrapped around her little finger, but how could you not be? She’s the cutest little girl ever. A little sassy but all sorts of sweet, and she loves tumbling, so that’s right up my alley. And she has a thing for koi fish, which is random, but that’s her grandfather’s fault.”

“I’m with her on the koi,” Grace says. “They’re gorgeous.”

“Right? And Dane’s brother, Matt, is like a giant teddy bear. I actually think you’d like him a lot, Grace. But stay away from Penn. He’s . . .”

“What?”

I laugh. “I can’t decide if you two would get along or hate each other.”

Her eyes light up as she leans forward. “Ooh. What’s he look like?”

“He’s muscly in a carpenter kind of way. Dark hair. Blue eyes. Tattoos probably everywhere, but I don’t know that to be a fact,” I say.

“Sounds cute.”

“You would totally think he’s cute. Trust me.”

She nods, a satisfied grin on her face. “How’s your mom?”

“Good. She has a boyfriend now, which is weird, but he’s a nice guy. Claire made a joke about my mom making him pie—I’m sure you can imagine what it is—and now I can’t think of pie or him without that line in my head.” I laugh at the memory. “You should go down there with me sometime, Grace.”

The glow from talking about Dogwood Lane flickers away. The chill that’s been inside my soul for a day now comes back. I shiver, lifting the coffee to my chest and holding it with both hands.

“Are you sure this is what you want?” She leans forward on the rickety pub table and looks at me with a seriousness that startles me.

“Is what what I want?”

“This.” She holds her arms to her sides, her bangles catching the light from overhead. When they drop to the table, they jingle. “Don’t get me wrong. I want you here. But do you want you here?”

I sit, stunned. My jaw hangs open as I look at my best friend. “What are you talking about? Of course I want to be here.”

She sips her coffee, eyeing me over the cup. Her question leaves me irritated, and rather than call her out, I take a drink of my overpriced coffee.

Finally, right before I’m ready to lose my mind, she sighs. “Look, Neely. All I’m saying is that I’ve never seen you as animated as you were a little while ago. You’ve been excited about articles and opportunities, but I think you just went ten sentences and didn’t even breathe.”

I look at her like she’s lost her mind. Still, her stupid words cause my mind to drift back to Dogwood Lane. My heart pangs for the smell of fertilizer, the taste of Mom’s pie. I’d do almost anything to see Dane’s smile and hear his voice whispering at the shell of my ear.

“That. Right there,” she says, pointing a pink-painted finger at me. “That’s what I’m talking about.”

My stomach rolls as I look at the manicure and think of Mia. “Enough, Grace.”

“I can’t let this go. Trust me, I’d like to. I’d like to tell you what concert tickets I bought us and fill you in on my dating life. But none of that is important, and this is. And as your friend, I have to be honest with you even when I’ll lose in the end. You need to go home, Neely.”

“I can’t. I go to see Frank tomorrow.”