Page 55 of Summer Holiday Lifeline

“You’re being you. Don’t let Ozzy get in your head.”

“I thought you liked him.”

“I do. As a very good and solid friend. And I love him for Tris.”

Myles nodded, twisting the handle of the basket in his hands. Now he had the thought in his head, he couldn’t help but wonder if Steven really wanted to see him again so soon.

“Look, you and Ozzy never fit. Not really. He said some toxic things to you when you guys were pushing and pulling, and don’t get me wrong: you were pretty awful too. But you were both drinking then, and you were not good for each other.”

“No, we weren’t.”

“Who you are is not bad because it was bad for him.”

“Maybe I should⁠—”

“You should do exactly what you thought you should do, and go see Steven. If he didn’t want you to, he would have said.”

“You think?”

“I know. He and Steph are not the same, but that is one thing they have in common. I think living with Jake taught them never to be ambiguous or false. Jake is very literal, so they both just default to saying exactly what they mean or want. Cuts down on the noise for Jake, and once you get used to it, makes things a lot easier in general.”

“So I should go,” Myles said, realizing he was, as Lucky had pointed out, dithering.

“You should.”

Lucky handed him his cane where he’d leaned it against the counter. “Go. Don’t worry so much. You do have this.”

Right. Because not worrying was never hard at all.

Fleetingly, the thought that a drink would make it all easier passed through his brain. He cringed away from it, but it was gone as quickly as it had come.

“Right.” He said it aloud this time as he made his way through the crowded front room. Literally no one paid him any mind, but he still felt like the centre of attention until he made it outside.

Once out in the fresh air, he used the drizzle to keep him rooted until the front door banged shut behind him. As if the house was kicking him out. Not permanently, he knew, but he got the feeling Mildred didn’t have a lot of patience for this sort of pointless hesitating.

Above him, a window opened and Jet called down. “Dude! Seriously. Just go!”

It was enough to spur Myles into motion, at least as far as the sidewalk.

Once there, he waited for a car to pass—though he had more than enough time to cross ahead of it. By the time he’d mounted the steps to the front porch of the bookshop and raised a hand to knock, his stomach was in knots and his heart thudding so slowly he wasn’t sure it beat at all fast enough to keep him on his feet.

Before his knuckles contacted wood, the door handle turned, and the door popped open. It didn’t swing wide enough to accommodate him, but a crack appeared between door and frame.

“Is that an invitation?” he asked.

Nothing. The door remained an inch open, but no more.

The black spruce in the front yard swayed slightly. A ripple of motion meandered through the trees along the street. Somewhere farther down Main, a crow squawked. The bushes next to the porch shuddered, and then everything went still.

It felt like the entire neighbourhood held its breath.

“Fine. Invitation it is.” He pushed through the door and tried to ignore the sensation of a leafy sigh being let out as the door closed in his wake with a decisive click.

His gaze turned immediately to the front counter as he entered.

“Oh hey.” It was Stephanie who offered him a brilliant smile as he stepped inside.

“Oh.” What had he expected? Steven sitting there waiting for him? If so, why had his heart restarted, setting off a cascade of wilting relief that made his limbs weak?