“I mean it. She drives me insane.”
“That’s step one,” Jamie said.
Erin smiled faintly. “Whatever you call it, it’s not hate. You talk about her differently. That’s interest, not irritation.”
“I’m not interested,” Tilly said. “I’m concerned. Big difference.”
Jamie lifted her glass in mock salute. “To concern.”
Erin chuckled. “It’s fine. Crushes happen. You’ll figure it out.”
“I do not have a crush,” Tilly said. “I have an occupational hazard.”
Jamie laughed so hard she nearly spilled her drink. Erin reached over to steady the glass, smiling like she was watching a movie she’d already seen the ending to.
“Anyway,” Tilly said, too quickly. “Is Medford still a thing? People wouldn’t shut up about it tonight.”
Jamie blinked. “Wow. Escape hatch.”
Erin’s smile faded. “Yeah. It’s still a thing.”
“I thought it was basically done,” Tilly said.
Jamie leaned forward. “Wait, why? What changed?”
Erin hesitated, then shrugged. “Timeline’s still not clean. There’s a gap they can’t fully explain.”
“So defense is still pushing coercion,” Jamie said.
“Among other things,” Erin replied. “They’re trying to knock the charges down. Prosecutors aren’t on the same page about how hard to push back.”
Jamie frowned. “But if they wait too long, doesn’t that weaken the whole case?”
“It can,” Erin said. “But moving too fast can wreck it too.”
Tilly leaned back in their chair. “Cool. So it’s just going to sit there forever while everyone argues.”
Jamie shot them a look. “That’s not helpful.”
“It’s realistic,” Tilly said. “Cases like that don’t resolve cleanly. They just… linger.”
Erin didn’t disagree. “Yeah. That’s kind of where it is.”
Jamie sighed, frustrated. “God. I hate stories like that.”
“Try working them,” Erin muttered.
Dinner shifted after that—lighter talk again, more stories about Leo’s bad habits and Erin’s cooking experiments—but Tilly wasn’t really listening. Their brain was a loop: crush, interest, the way Savannah’s scarf had brushed her jaw in the cold last night. They hated that they could picture it in detail.
When plates were cleared, Jamie packed leftovers into containers. Erin rinsed dishes at the sink, humming under her breath. Leo followed Tilly from room to room, hopeful for one last piece of bread. It was all too comfortable. Too normal.
At the door, Jamie hugged them quickly. “Thanks for coming.”
“Thanks for the interrogation,” Tilly said.
“You needed it,” Jamie said. “And for what it’s worth, you’re terrible at pretending you don’t care.”
Erin leaned in the doorway, arms crossed, Leo sitting neatly beside her. “She gets under your skin,” she said softly. “That’s not a bad thing. Means you’re paying attention.”
