“I’m sure it’s not the whole town.” He cracked a grin. “I bet those old ladies that Maddox knits with don’t know.”

“Hey!” Maddox glared, pointing a finger at Hayes. “Those ladies are my friends, don’t diss them.”

Hayes raised his hands in surrender, laughing under his breath.

“They’re sweet old ladies,” Maddox continued, “who not only teach me how to knit all the things, but they also bake me pie. Do you have pie, Hayes? I think not!”

We all busted out laughing, even Maddox.

I wiped tears away from eyes and said, “If you had a super power you’d be The Knitter.”

“And I’d knit my little minion creatures.” He grinned.

“Oh God,” Hayes laughed, “do you realize if our fans heard half the shit we talk about they’d realize what a bunch of nerds we are.”

“Speak for yourselves.” Mathias glared, huffing under his breath.

“Dude,” Hayes waved a hand in Mathias’ direction, “you wear fucking suspenders and look at those glasses you have on. You’re a nerd too.”

Mathias frowned and whispered something in Remy’s ear. She said something back and he kissed her, a smile tugging up his lips. In all the time I’d known the guys I’d never, not once, used the word happy to describe Mathias, but he definitely was now.

“So,” Hayes turned his attention back to me, “now that you’re single we should go out.” He grinned, waggling his brows.

Ezra stiffened beside me, but said nothing.

“Uh…” I started. I had no idea what to say.

“Come on,” he said, when I took too long to speak, “I don’t bite and I hear I’m a lot of fun.”

I laughed at that. “I don’t know.”

“Give a guy a chance, Sadie,” he pleaded, grinning at me, “don’t bruise my ego. It’s a gentle, easily hurt, thing. It’s just dinner.”

“Fine,” I agreed. I wasn’t ready to date, but I figured one night out with Hayes could be fun. He was a nice guy.

Ezra stood up and threw away his pizza crust, mumbling that he was going to the bathroom.

“Did I piss him off?” Hayes asked. “If y’all have something going on I don’t mean to butt in.”

“No, nothing’s going on,” I said quickly.

Hayes seemed appeased by my words and smiled broadly. “Good. I’ll call you.”

Across from where we sat Emma’s gaze seared me to the spot. She was mad.

I turned to look at her and mouthed, “What?”

She didn’t respond and instead continued to glare.

Ezra returned to the room, not making eye contact with anyone. “I have a few things I need to do.” Finally his gaze dropped to me. I couldn’t read anything in his brown eyes. They were flat. Emotionless. “I’ll drop you off at your car.”

“Uh…yeah, okay.” I stood up, putting the slice of pizza back in the box that I hadn’t finished yet.

Hayes stood up too, looking between Ezra and me. “I can take you to your car,” he said.

I knew he was only trying to be helpful, but I really wanted to kick him in the shin right now.

Ezra smiled weakly. “Great, Hayes can take you then.” He clapped his hands together and somehow it felt like a gesture that he was washing his hands of me.

Before I could respond Ezra turned sharply on his heel and stalked out of the house.

I was left there wondering what I had done to piss him off.

“I’m really sorry,” Hayes apologized yet again, “I didn’t mean to make things awkward for you. You said there was nothing going on with you guys, and he said he had somewhere he had to go. I was trying to be helpful,” he rambled.

“I know,” I assured him. “I don’t know what’s going on with Ezra.”

While Ezra might’ve been one of my closest friends, there were still times where I felt like I didn’t know him at all. Today, being one of those days. Sometimes he retreated into himself and there was no prying his thoughts past his lips.

Hayes parked his truck beside my car and turned the volume down on the radio. “So,” he started, “it’s still okay if I call you?”

“Yeah, that’s fine.” I laughed lightly, reaching for the door.

“You don’t feel weird about it, right? I mean, I know you just broke up with Braden, so I don’t want you to feel pressured.”

His sincerity was endearing.

“Just dinner?” I confirmed.

“Only dinner,” he nodded, “and then we go from there.”

“I’m okay with that.” I gave him a small smile.

He nodded. “I’ll see you soon.”

“Bye.”

I slipped out of the vehicle and into my store. I was feeling better and determined to put a dent into finishing up my paperwork and doing inventory.

Hours passed and when I finally left it was after six in the evening.

Once again, the whole day had managed to go by without me realizing it.

Ezra wasn’t at his house when I got there.

He wasn’t there when I made dinner either.

He still wasn’t home when I went to bed.

And I couldn’t help feeling that his absence was my fault.

I SAT AT the kitchen island, eating a bowl of cereal, and flipping through a magazine when Ezra walked into his house.

I glanced over at him, noting that he was wearing different clothes.

I quickly looked back at the magazine, refusing to let him know that I’d been waiting anxiously for him to return. I’d worried something bad had happened to him, but after three unanswered texts I’d stopped bugging him—knowing that if he’d been hurt Maddox and Emma wouldn’t have kept me out of the loop.

“Did you have a good night?” I asked.

He stepped into the kitchen, dropping his keys and wallet on the countertop. “Not in the way you’re implying.”

“I wasn’t implying anything.” I shoveled a mouthful of Cheerios into my mouth.

He propped his elbows on the counter and stared down at me with those intense dark eyes. “Yes, you were.”

I shrugged. “You were gone all night. What you did isn’t any of my business.”

And it wasn’t.

I didn’t care either.

That was a lie. I did care, even though I shouldn’t.

My feelings seemed to be swirling in a whirlpool and I couldn’t make sense of them. I’d always liked Ezra and there’d been attraction mixed into that, but I’d never planned to act on it. This jealousy I felt at the possibility that he spent the night with a woman was ridiculous. I’d not only just ended my engagement, but I’d also agreed to go on a date with Hayes, so I shouldn’t have been thinking of Ezra in that way at all.

I was also wondering if I’d agreed to go on a date with Hayes too soon after breaking up with Braden. But when was the right time to move on? Did I have to live my life on some invisible timeline that was respectable to what people found appropriate? I didn’t want to spend the next six months, or year, sniveling over the end of my engagement to a man I now realized never even owned my heart. I wanted to move on and live my life the way I chose.

“Sadie, did you hear me?”

“Huh? What?” I snapped my head up, my gaze colliding with his.

“I stayed at my parent’s house.” He turned and grabbed a mug before pouring himself a cup of coffee. He leaned against the counter once more, arching his brow as he waited for a response from me.

“Did you not come home because of me?” I asked, swirling my spoon through the milk. Suddenly, I wasn’t very hungry anymore. “This is your house, Ezra, and I don’t want to keep you from it.”

He pinched the bridge of his nose. “That had nothing to do with you and everything to do with me,” he sighed.

“Is this because I told Hayes I’d go out with him?” I asked, lowering my head and staring down at the cereal like it was the most interesting thing I’d ever seen.

“Yes. No. I don’t know.” He mumbled, running a hand nervously through his hair. “Things are complicated.” His jaw snapped together and he glared at the nearby window.