Page 180 of At First Catch

Holt had texted before seven asking if I needed help replacing dock boards.

Crew wanted to know if I had enough volunteers for Saturday.

Claire had heard I’d skipped dinner and informed me—in a message containing three heart emoji and zero room for negotiation—that I was expected at the farmhouse that evening.

I hadn’t realized when they’d started feeling less like Hadley’s family and more like mine.

I glance down at the screen and see the one name I was hoping for the most: Hadley.

A warmth spreads through my chest so fast it almost hurts.

Hadley

You eating lunch today or surviving on coffee again?

God. This woman. Even while I’m drowning in all of this, she still reaches for me in tiny, careful ways.

Me

Coffee is a food group.

Hadley

It absolutely is not.

Me

Bold claim.

Hadley

Crew says I’m supposed to bully you into protein.

A laugh escapes me before I can stop it.

Miguel points at my face. “There. That. Tell her the truth.”

I glare at him.

He lifts both hands and backs toward the door. “I’m leaving before you fire me.”

Coward.

The second he’s gone, I stare down at Hadley’s text again.

I should tell her. Not everything maybe. But more. Enough that she doesn’t have to stand outside my fear guessing at the shape of it.

I know that I should.

I know it because she told me exactly that three nights ago while rain hit the apartment windows and I finally admitted the marina might not survive without outside money.

She asked me for honesty.

Partnership.

Room beside me when things got hard.

And still, here I am, deciding which pieces of the truth are safe enough to hand her.