Korie is on the couch in one of my hoodies, hair messy from sleep while they scroll through their phone. My chest does that stupid warm squeeze immediately.
“Hey,” they say quietly.
I lean down to kiss the top of their head on my way into the kitchen. “Mom called.”
“Mm?” Korie glances up.
“Campout stuff.” I grin while grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge. “She already has us sharing a tent again.”
Their reaction is so small that if I hadn’t been looking at them, I would’ve missed it.
Korie’s shoulders tense for half a second before they relax. Their eyes drop back to their phone too quickly, and they reach for another piece of toast.
“Oh,” they say lightly. “Cool.”
I pause.
Something about their voice feels… off.
But then Korie looks back up and smiles at me—that small, sleepy, beautiful smile that completely screws with my head. It’s my favorite smile.
“I think they throw us out there because they’re tired of your crappy lyrics.”
“Huh?”
“You know. All the things you say in your sleep.”
I gasp. “Ormaybethey’re tired of us being a two-person band. Me with the lyrics, you with your chainsaw melody.”
Korie throws their head back in a laugh. “Oh, God. I walked right into that one.”
I smirk. “You kinda did.”
Korie waves a hand. “Go shower, dumbass. You’re dripping sweat all over the floor.”
“Fine. Feel free to join me,” I say, winking over my shoulder.
Korie shakes their head.
My steps are light when I walk into work later that day. Ellis and Blaine are at the welcome desk, checking in guests. Ellis does a quick double take when she sees me.
I smile. “Hey.”
“Hi.” The suspicion in her voice makes me chuckle.
I go to the breakroom to toss my bag into my locker. When I come back out, Cole is entering his physical therapy office, looking a little worse for wear. His pale blond hair is pushed back from his forehead, and he’s holding a clipboard in one hand and his phone in the other. He doesn’t notice me when I step in beside him.
“Hey.”
Cole flinches, quickly pocketing the phone. “Oh, hey.”
He turns into his office quicker than I expected, making me pause.
I follow him. “Everything okay?”
Cole sighs, setting the clipboard down and glancing at the whiteboard with the day’s schedule on it. “Just another busy day,” he says with a weak smile.
Cole is our on-staff medic. He also runs a small physical therapy clinic with a rapidly growing list of clients. The man never stops working. But he’s also my friend. I’ve gotten to know him pretty well over the last three months, and I can tell when something is bothering him.
