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“Hello?”

“Shay, darling, I’m so glad I caught you.”

Confused, I peered around the area outside my car. Pedestrians window-shopped. Garlands draped over Main Street with giant bow-topped wreathes in the middle. Nothing made sense.

“Oh?” was all I could get out.

“Yes. Since you were unavailable Sunday, I thought a little get together tomorrow might be just the thing.”

“Oh, I don’t think⁠—”

“The driver will pick you up at 10:30.”

“Nessa—”

“It’s been great chatting, but I do have another urgent engagement. Let me let you go, alright?”

“Wait, I⁠—”

“Goodbye, dear!”

She hung up.

I stared at my phone for ten full seconds. What the heck was that? Before I’d fully recovered, my passenger side door opened, and I jumped, gasping.

A lean body slipped into the passenger seat, all black coat and black curls.

“Bennett?”

He shut the door with a flourish. “Hello, love.”

“What are you doing?”

“Everyone else has said their piece. Don’t I get a say?”

My body deflated, and I rested my forehead on my steering wheel. “Will it make a difference if I say no?”

“Not really.”

I heaved a great sigh and motioned him to continue.

“Do you remember when I said it will get worse before it gets better?”

Bennett had given me a lot of mysterious quips to ponder my first day at Henley.

“Yes,” I said.

“This is the worse part.”

I lifted my head. “Was that supposed to help me in some way?”

He gave me a half-smile. “Better is coming.”

I shook my head. He couldn’t possibly know that.

“Please don’t hurt him, Shay,” he whispered. “He’s been waiting for you for a long time.”

I turned sharply, taking in his open, concerned expression. “I’m trying not to hurt him. That’s the whole point of this.”