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My fingers tightened around my glass. “Has he said anything? About me?”

Michael huffed out a humorless breath. “He doesn’t say much about anything that matters. If his mouth is moving, it’s usually about equipment, call logs, or whose turn it is to clean the kitchen.”

Guilt twisted in my stomach. “I reached out,” I protested softly. “I called. I texted. I thought… I don’t know. I thought giving him space would be kinder. I was the one who left. I didn’t want to keep yanking at his wounds.”

Michael’s gaze sharpened. “And you think a couple of calls and texts from an hour away is enough?”

The words weren’t cruel. But they still stung.

“I’m trying,” I said, hating how small I sounded.

“I know you are,” he said. “And I get why you left. But I’m gonna say this blunt, because that’s apparently my job now.”

I braced myself.

“You want to know how he is?” Michael continued. “You don’t do it from Gatlinburg with voicemail and emojis. You get your ass back to Jasper Creek and look him in the eye.”

My face heated. “You think I don’t want to? I’m… scared, Michael. Of making things worse. Of seeing what I did to him. Of what he’ll see in me.”

He held my gaze, steady and unflinching. “Do you still love him?”

The answer was so immediate it almost knocked me over. “Yes.”

“Does he still love you?”

My throat ached. “I don’t know.”

“He does,” Michael said simply. “Trust me. That’s half the problem. He doesn’t know what to do with all of it now that everything’s gone sideways.”

Tears pricked the back of my eyes. I blinked them away. “And you think me showing up will fix that?”

“No,” Michael said. “I think it will hurt. For both of you. I also think it’s the only way either of you are going to stop bleeding all over everything.”

I let out a shaky breath. “Wow. You should try your hand at Hallmark cards.”

He actually smiled. “Don’t tempt me. I’d traumatize a whole generation.”

We sat in silence for a moment. The muted hum of the fridge filled the space between us.

“He’s off the next three days,” Michael said finally. “From the station, anyway. Can’t speak for Cappy’s. But if you were going to come… that’d be the window.”

My heart thumped hard against my ribs.

“Okay,” I whispered. “I’ll go.”

“Good.” He pushed back his chair and stood. “Text me when you get there. If he gives you any trouble, I’ll come over and glare at him from the driveway.”

“Very intimidating,” I deadpanned.

“I know.” He hesitated, then squeezed my shoulder once. “You’re doing better than you were, Chloe. I can see it. Don’t let Zarek derail you.”

After he left, I sat alone in the suddenly-too-quiet apartment, staring at the two panels on the wall.

Seris looked back at me from the ruined city. In this page, her hand was reaching for a door she wasn’t sure she wanted to open.

“Fine,” I told her. “We’ll do it together.”

Driving back into Jasper Creek felt like walking into a memory.