Page 39 of Forbidden to Fall

Archer sucked in a breath through clenched teeth.

“I thought Ryan and Lily were on a date,” I said.

“They showed up a little bit ago. Ryan asked where you were—he wanted to say hi—so I told him you were working on the food. I had no idea…”

“How could you have known that one of Wade’s genius students would slather my maple glaze all over his steak and asparagus, requiring me to call in reinforcements from my brother’s worst enemy?”

“Butterfly effect.”

“Butterfly makes it sound so harmless.” I picked up my dessert spoon. I couldn’t eat the cheesecake. Even if I hadn’t made it, my nerves ensured it looked unappetizing. Instead, I boxed it up to take to Mom and Dad.

When Archer dropped me off at home, Ryan’s car was already there.

The pansy in me wanted to delay this. Give him more time to cool off. But deep down, I knew that wouldn’t help. This was an eight-year-old beef. It pre-dated Mia. One day wasn’t going to make Ryan suddenly chill about seeing James in Autumn Ridge, to say nothing of watching him extricate a bobby pin from my hair.

“Hello?” I said as I stepped inside my parents’ house.

“We’re in the living room!” Mom called.

I took a breath and made my way there.

“How’d it go, honey?” she asked from her seat on the sofa.

Dad looked me over, raised his brows in approval, and gave me two thumbs up and a wink.

I smiled my gratitude at him as my gaze flicked to Ryan. He was sitting next to Lily, his arm around her and his eyes on me.

“It went…okay,” I said noncommittally. “Wade was in rare form tonight. I brought you some cheesecake.” I went over and handed it to Mom.

She got up and took it. “Thank you, sweetie! I’ll just put it in the fridge.”

Dad cocked a brow at me and got up. He grabbed me by the arm and leaned in to whisper. “That’s what she says when she’s going to eat something in secret. You look beautiful, sweetie.” He kissed me on the cheek and followed Mom out of the room.

The second he disappeared, the air in the room thickened.

Lily looked at me, then at Ryan, then swallowed. Like me, she wasn’t super keen on confrontation.

It was easy to forget that this whole situation wasn’t just about Ryan and James. It revolved around her.

On the one hand, how terrible could it be having two men in love with you like she had?

On the other…her husband had lost his best friend. She’d lost a friend.

I couldn’t help wondering how that must feel—or how she must feel toward James.

The conversation between Archer and James came to mind again. Half of me wanted to ask them to tell me what exactly had happened, while the other half knew this was not the time.

“How long has he been in town?” Ryan asked.

Okay, then. We were just jumping right in. No talk about the weather or their date. Hard, cold facts.

Incriminating ones.

“About a week, I think?” I answered.

His frown deepened. “So, he was here when we talked the other day at the bakery?”

“Yeah, but he was leaving.”