Page 154 of You Fall First

“Oh, hey!” My heart soars as if I just hurled myself out of a jet plane without a parachute. “Here for a second date already?”

“Jo.” My name on his lips is an anchor, sinking to the porch.

And that’s when I notice the dark shadows under his eyes.

Noah looks like a man who hasn’t slept in weeks.

My smile disappears.

Chapter Forty-One

Jo

“What’s wrong?”

My heart’s in my throat as Noah walks backward, and I follow him out to the walkway. He’s shaking his head, hands in his hair, fingers gripping his skull. “I don’t know what to do, Jo. I just … I don’t. I can’t.”

I reach for his elbow. “Is Dutton okay?”

“Yes.”

“Paige is hurt?”

“No.”

Thank God.

I guide him over to a two-seater bench at the edge of our property. “Whatever’s going on”—I tug him down—“we’ll figure it out.”

“I’m not sure we can.” His shoulders slump. “I was up all night and I just … I don’t see an easy way to fix this.”

I rub a slow, soft circle on his back. “That doesn’t sound like the Noah Stadler I know. There’s nobody I’d trust more to solve a problem than you.”

“Yeah, well.” He lets out a half laugh, half scoff that’s so sharp, my chest hurts. “I must’ve used up my problem-solving quota, because I can’t think of a resolution that doesn’t end up with someone being miserable. Multiple someones, either way.”

“Tell me what happened,” I offer gently, even as warning bells clang all over my brain.

“I don’t even know how.”

“Just say it.”

“I’ve been trying to find the words for the past twelve hours.”

I steel myself. “You don’t have to protect me.”

He twists sideways to meet my gaze, his dark eyes glazed over. “Paige and Dutton want to go back to Mayville. Permanently.”

I suck in a breath.

“Scratch that,” he rasps. “They are going.”

And there goes the rest of the air in my lungs.

My eyes roam his face, taking in the chiseled jaw, the vein at his temple throbbing. A sweep of thick hair falls over his forehead, and I push it away. “I’m so sorry,” I soothe. “I know how happy you were to have them here.”

“I shouldn’t have forced them to come in the first place.” His voice is gruff with pain. “The truth is, I made everything worse for them. For me. It was selfish.”

“Stop.” I press a finger to his mouth. “I won’t let anyone talk about my favorite person that way. Especially not you.” When I drop my hand, he shudders.