Page 55 of Falling Again

“Nothing is going on.”

“Liar.” She pets Dandy in a way that resembles Dr. Evil.

“I mean, truthfully, I don’t know what’s going on between us. I love being his friend. But also, he’s really hot and I really like him. Oh, and we nearly kissed. Just a little. Okay, maybe we kissed a lot.”

Her mouth gapes open. “What! When? You never told me.”

“Uh, at the party.”

“If I can recall, you said, “NOTHING IS HAPPENING,” in all capital letters.”

“Well, I lied. To everyone. Even to myself, because there’s definitely something happening.”

“No wonder he’s down bad.”

“What do you mean?”

“The guy is obsessed with you—he looks like he’s about to melt whenever you are near him. Like he would move a mountain if you said it was in your way. Like he’d build a statue of you from scratch. Like—”

“Okay, I get it,” I say, cutting off Annika and exhaling. “We had a moment on the dance floor. It felt like we were the only two people in the room, then Dane interrupted us.”

“I can’t believe he was there. Ugh, Carly must’ve told him. That bitch.” Annika is aggressively petting Dandy, who is trying to escape from her clutches. I lean forward and rescue my cat before Annika rubs a bald patch on her head.

“It’s fine. I cleared the air and got some closure. Even if he ruined the moment between me and Tyler.”

“And now, you’re about to move to his guesthouse? Landlord-and-tenant forbidden love? I’m sure there’s a romance book about that somewhere.”

I cackle, then say, “Should I still move there? Does that complicate things?”

“Obviously, yeah. I guess you could stay with me and Reid for a bit, if you want to find a different place to live.”

“No, no. It will be fine. Tyler and I are great friends, things are just different between us now. In a good way, I think. I’ve never been friends with a guy before dating them.”

“It’s great, highly recommend,” Annika says, beaming. “Well, if it makes any difference, Tyler gets my seal of approval.”

“Wow, he should be honored.”

“Truly! I don’t give those out often.”

“He’s really great, isn’t he? He makes me feel safe but with the rush of an adventure. Like I can take on anything. Tyler makes me want to try hard things.”

“Chloe, please spare me the details of Tyler’s hard things.”

“That’s not what I mean!” I swat her arm. “I want to face my fears of falling in love and try again. I want to volunteer at the animal shelter and set up a booth at the farmers’ market to draw portraits. I want to travel the world, settle down, and have like ten kids. I want to have a farm and a flower garden, but open a coffee shop. I want to do everything, and for some reason, being with Tyler makes me feel like I can do it all.”

I can’t read Annika’s expression. I wish I could tell what she’s thinking.

“What are you thinking?” I decide to ask.

“What I said to you at my parents’ house is true. I want you to be happy, Chloe. But you tend to attach yourself to people. And I don’t mean it in a way that’s bad or wrong. But as a tale of caution. I want you to be able to explore what you want, without anything tied to anyone. You should feel like you can do all those things. With or without anyone by your side,” Annika reveals, wincing a bit. I do too. Her words don’t feel great to hear, but I’m honest with myself enough to know it’s the truth. I’ve attached myself to her most of my life. She’s the reason I’m sitting in this little house, and I’m very aware that the same could happen if I decide to date Tyler.

“I know, you’re right. But it feels different this time. It doesn’t feel like I can’t do anything without him. As if when he’s absent, I’m lost. It feels like I can do anything because he trusts me. And I don’t know if I’ve felt that with anyone before. Dane, Liam, and the guys, between them, even Christian—they all wanted to keep me contained. I never felt free with them. At the party, Dane wanted to talk, and at first, I didn’t think Tyler would let me leave with him. But he did.”

“And that’s a good thing?”

“Yes! Because he trusted me to come back to him. When he let me go, it wasn’t because he didn’t care. It was because he trusted me, and that moment meant more to me than the two kisses we shared.”

Annika takes a deep breath in, then blows it out. “Dang, you’re down bad too. Wait a minute, two kisses?”