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The wind bites through my clothes, but I don’t bother putting my coat on, and I don’t deserve to drink nice coffee.

I walk back to the office because the only certain thing I have right now is the amount of work on my schedule.

Emmett takes one look at me when I come in and closes his laptop.

“Boss, what happened?”

I hang up my coat and sit down at my desk.

“I had a fight with Taylen.”

“You guys are best friends. You’ll work it out.” I love Emmett’s eternal optimism. I know he’s right. Taylen and I will work it out, but right now, the last thing I need is my best friend being upset with me.

“Yeah, we will.”

I open my laptop and stare at the screen without seeing it for a long moment.

Then I pick up my phone.

Finn:

I’m going to see Taylen tonight. Not sure when I’ll be home.

Fox’s reply comes almost immediately.

Fox:

Okay. Do you want me to come over tonight?

I stare at the message.

Do I want him to come over? I really do, but I’m getting tired of the sneaking around. Maybe I need one night of being Finn and hanging out with my best friend. It’s long overdue.

Fin:

Not tonight. I might not come home.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

FOX

“You’ve slowed down on the apples, Foster.”

Sylvie’s voice pulls me out of my wandering thoughts. I look down. There’s a half-chopped apple on the cutting board in front of me and my knife is resting against it, unmoving.

“Sorry. Sorry.”

“That’s okay, honey. I just don’t want you to cut a finger. Blood doesn’t go with apple and cinnamon.”

I pick up the knife and cut the apple into even slices, the way she showed me twenty years ago when she first made me help her with a pie.

She’s at the counter beside me, working butter and flour into pastry with her bare hands. Her sleeves are rolled up to her elbows and the kitchen smells like cinnamon and warm butter.

I’ve always loved this kitchen. It’s one of the reasons I’ve continued coming back to Winterberry for two and a half decades. Sylvie has always treated the band as if she suddenly adopted three rowdy boys—four when Nikko graduated from college and became our tour manager.

The apples are supposed to be sliced thin, and to be fair, that’s how they started out, but at some point while I was lost in thought, the sharp blade of the knife shifted because Finn’s messages refuse to leave my mind.

I’m happy he’s seeing his best friend, but selfishly, I want to take every second of his time that I can get. Now that I’m spending most of my time at the farm, I miss being in his space, reading his books, cooking dinner for him, or spending the evening cuddling on the couch.