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“Ares, hey. I don’t mean to interrupt your vacation, but I’ve gotten some inquiries about your schedule I wanted to run by you.”

“Sure, go ahead.”

She starts to list off some studios that have reached out for various projects, asking me to think about the kind of work I want to do now that my time has freed up.

Brynn is awake and paying attention now, and when I glance in the rearview mirror, I can see there’s a look on her face that seems possessive, like she feels some kind of way about me talking to another woman on the phone.

It’s cute that she cares, and I make sure to emphasize it when I tell Dani that I appreciate her looking into stuff for me this close to the holiday. “You’re a good agent,” I say, meeting Brynn’s eyes in the mirror.

She makes another face, this one with rolled eyes and everything, but I grin. I’ve missed this kind of stuff. The faces she makes, how expressive she is, the way she cares. It’s good to have it back.

“I’ll shoot you an email with all this stuff,” Dani says. “And we’ll try to get a few things locked down by the first of the year, okay?”

“Sounds good to me. Thanks, Dani. Happy holidays.”

The rest of the drive is uneventful. We cross into Hope Falls proper, and I take a breath, preparing myself for how crazy this visit is going to be. Callan offers to drop Brynn off first, and she agrees. I can tell from the tightness in her voice that she feels the same way about being back that I do.

We pull up to her parents’ house, and the porch light is on. As soon as we kill the engine, the front door opens. Brynn must have texted her family that she was close, and now all of them are coming out of the house to stand on the porch and look.

Her brother and sister are there, and her parents too. Brynn gets out of the car, waving at them awkwardly, and then I get out to help her with her bags, and it feels like the atmosphere gets several degrees colder.

“What is he doing here, Brynn?” her mother says, coming down the porch steps carefully. All of them look like they’re just waiting for me to fuck up and do something, so I busy myself popping the trunk and hefting her bags out.

“Mom, it’s fine. I told you there was all that crazy weather and our plane got diverted. Ares and his friends were on the same plane, and they offered to help me get here. Otherwise I would have been trying to deal with it on my own. It was nice of them to help me out. I might not have made it here on time otherwise.”

That calms them down of course. Heaven forbid she miss the festival.

“Well,” her mother says stiffly. “That was nice of them, I suppose.” She glances at me, like I’m not really worth looking at. “I appreciate you seeing that she got here safely.”

“Sure,” I say, trying to be warm but neutral. “We were coming to the same place, after all. It wasn’t an issue.”

Brynn gives me a look as soon as her mother turns around, and she grabs her things. Tate and Callan get out of the car as well, and her family doesn’t know anything about them, but them being my friends is probably enough to make them guilty by association.

“Thanks for all your help,” Brynn says. “And you two, too. I’m sure I’ll see you around the festival.”

Fuck, it’s so awkward. She was right when she said that it was always going to be awkward since we weren’t speaking to each other before this, but this careful distance is just as painful.

I don’t know the next time I’m going to be able to have a real conversation with her, and I want to kiss her or something, but obviously I can’t. The wind whips her hair across her face, and I wish I could brush it back for her and then bundle her back into the warmth of the car, instead of having to stand four feet away like a stranger.

“See you,” Tate says, smiling. “It was nice to meet you. Happy holidays.” He says that last part loud enough to include Brynn’s family in the sentiment, but they don’t even glance his way.

“Brynn,” Mrs. Carter calls from the porch. “It’s late, and I’m sure Ares and his friends need to get going. Come inside.”

“I’m coming!” Brynn calls back, already sounding tired. She gives us one last look and then starts to wheel her bag up the driveway. Her brother comes to help, and Callan touches my arm, snapping me out of it so we can get back in the car.

“Yikes,” Callan says once their front door closes. Although I wouldn’t put it past Mrs. Carter to be watching out the window until we drive away.

I let out a harsh breath. “Yeah, that about sums it up. Still glad you came?”

“Shut the fuck up,” Callan says, buckling his seatbelt.

“So where to next?” Tate asks, trying to keep things moving after that shit show.

“My parents’ place,” I say and start the car. It’s easier for me to drive now since I know where I’m going. “I need to show them I’m alive and in one piece. And introduce you two. Then we’re going to the cabin I rented and we can crash for the night.”

I love my family, I do, but they can be a lot, and that’s putting it mildly. Renting a cabin so I can have some distance from them was the first thing I did when I agreed to come back for the festival. My mom was put out about it, but I told her that there’s no room at their house for me and my two friends, so she had to give in.

It’s not a long drive to my parents’ house, just to the other side of town, but it feels longer for how quiet it is. We’re all tired by now, ready to be out of the car and somewhere warm with food in front of us. More than that, I can feel Brynn’s absence like a physical thing. It never used to feel like anything was missing when all three of us were together, but it does now. It’s like Brynn carved out a place for herself in the short time we were all together, and now it’s weird not to have her in it.