Chapter 24

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Laney

If I wanted something to ground me back in reality after a week hanging out with Midnight Rush, Fifi's anal glands will definitely do it.

I hold up the tiny chihuahua and look him dead in the eye. "You only exist to torture me," I say.

Fifi snarls in response and lets out a low growl. Honestly, I feel bad for the little guy. It must be so stressful to be so angry all the time.

"Talk about a rude welcome back to the real world," Percy says from behind me.

"Says the guy who just gave a cat a flea bath."

He holds up his arms. "And has the battle scars to prove it. I still wouldn't trade if it meant dealing with Fifi."

The rest of my afternoon is blissfully low key. I even get to leave an hour early due to a last-minute cancellation, so I'm home and showered and wearing leggings and my favorite hoodie by six o'clock .

I'm pulling the plastic off a freezer pizza when Percy knocks, then opens my front door. "I'm coming in!" he calls. I have no idea when we transitioned from regular friends to the kind of friends who let themselves into each other's houses, but here we are. "Don't put that in the oven," Percy says as he heaves a to-go bag onto the counter. "I brought Chinese."

"Have I told you how much I love you, Percy?"

"Not today, so tell me again."

"What's the occasion?" I ask as I pull containers out of the bag. "If you're here to make me talk about Adam, then I'm eating all the egg rolls and the crab rangoon without sharing."

Percy rolls his eyes. "Calm down. I have zero Adam-related agenda, though my opinions on the subject haven't changed."

I gave Percy a quick debriefing when he stopped by for coffee on the way to work this morning. At the time, I'd texted Adam, letting him know I was back in town, and I hadn't heard back from him yet.

Twelve hours later, nothing has changed. It's only been twenty-four hours, which doesn't seem too alarming?

Or, I don't know. Maybe it does. I don't have enough relationship experience to know one way or the other.

Adam probably just wanted time to regroup. For all I know, he's camping on the ridge behind the rescue, meditating and doing sunrise yoga every morning and will be in touch next week when he feels like rejoining civilization.

To be fair, I have no idea if Adam camps or does yoga or meditates. Which just goes to show: I barely know this man.

We had an intense week. An amazing week. But it's only been a month since our first date. A month is a very tiny blip of time.

I want to see him. Talk to him. Hug him and ask him if he's okay.

But unless I'm going to strap on my hiking boots and go find him, I don't know what else to do but wait.

Percy, on the other hand, thinks I should be camped out on his porch demanding he talk to me.

"It hasn't even been twenty-four hours, Percy."

"Girl. You're in a relationship. Twenty-four hours is a long time to go without answering a text."

"I'm barely in a relationship that we never actually defined with any official labels," I say. But it's a lie. I am absolutely in a relationship with Adam. Heart, mind, body, all of it. I'm invested. I care. And it's killing me that he hasn't texted back yet.

"Can we please talk about something else now? What's going on with you ?"

He points an eggroll at me and opens his mouth to respond, but then a knock sounds on my front door.

"You expecting company?"

I shrug and dig into my orange chicken. "It's probably the neighbor kid. She's saving up for a bike and keeps stopping by to ask if I have any yard work she can do. If I don't answer, she'll go away."

"You just ignore her?"

"Last time she was here, I paid her ten dollars to rake my mulch. You can't make me feel guilty about this."

He rolls his eyes and goes to answer the door.

When he comes back a minute later, his eyes are wide. "Definitely not your neighbor," he says under his breath.

I put down my fork, my skin prickling with awareness, and point at Percy. "Don't say a word," I say to his knowing grin. "Not a single word."

When I round the corner into the living room, I stop in my tracks.

Adam is standing near the front door, looking handsome as ever. His hair looks a little shorter, and I wonder if he got it cut today, but his stubble is longer, not quite a beard, but close, making him more Adam and less Deke.

But it isn't Adam's hair or his beard that stops me. It's Ringo, sitting in Adam's arms with a big red bow around his neck.

"Oh my gosh," I whisper as Adam walks toward me, Ringo tucked closely against his chest. The hopeful look in Adam's eyes makes the anxiety coiled in my belly snap and dissipate.

"Hi, baby," I say as Adam lowers the puppy into my arms. "My sweet boy. I missed you!"

Ringo wiggles and squirms until his tiny paws are on my chest and he's licking my chin with a determination only matched by his enthusiasm.

"If you aren't ready for him, I can take him back," Adam says. "Keep him until?—"

"No, this is perfect," I say. "I'm ready."

Adam lets out a breath as he nods. "Good. I'm really glad." He looks over my shoulder, then clears his throat. "I, uh...sorry for interrupting your evening."

I look over my shoulder to see Percy leaning against the kitchen door frame, arms folded across his chest. "Don't apologize," Percy says. "We're just hanging out. There's plenty of food if you're hungry."

"Thanks, but I have an early morning tomorrow," Adam says. "And still lots to do at the rescue beforehand. "

I frown at the thought of Adam leaving so soon. Now that he's standing in front of me, I feel an intense need to wrap my arms around him, to breathe him in and hold him close, but I still have no idea what's going on inside his head, so I settle for hugging Ringo a little tighter. And shooting Percy a glare that says he'd better get back in the kitchen.

If I only have minutes before Adam leaves, I'd rather they not happen with Percy watching.

Percy must get the hint because he heads back to the kitchen after offering Adam a wave and a, "Nice to see you, Adam."

"How are you?" I ask once we're alone.

Adam's expression shifts the slightest bit, like he just pulled a layer of protection around himself. "Good. Great."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Things have been really busy at the rescue, so I'm tackling paperwork, trying to get caught up. I'm actually heading to Georgia first thing tomorrow to pick up five new dogs from a kill shelter in Rabun County."

I have no idea what's happening here. Adam is talking like everything is fine. Like last week didn't happen at all and there's nothing for us to discuss.

But I was there.

We can't pretend like nothing happened if we were both there.

But I don't know how to say any of that, so I just nod and say, "Lucky dogs."

"That's what I'm doing tonight, actually. Cleaning the barn. Getting everything ready for intake. Otherwise, I'd love to stay."

There is a warmth to his words that tells me they're true, and it helps to soothe my still slightly anxious heart. But something still isn't right. He's here and he's fine and he's happy, but there is a giant boyband-shaped elephant standing directly between us.

"I should be back by midafternoon tomorrow," Adam says. "Do you want to come over for dinner? I'll cook, then we can watch a movie, maybe?"

Adam asking me to come over is a good thing. Of course it's a good thing. So why doesn't it feel like it?

I must be wearing my feelings on my face because Adam frowns.

"Or…maybe you don't want to come over?" he says.

"No!" I say quickly. "I would love to come. That's not it. I just…" I bite my lip, hesitating. "Are we just going to pretend like last week didn't happen?"

"I don't understand what you mean."

Okay, what? Am I being an idiot here?

"Adam. The stuff with the band. With you. The last time I saw you, you were not okay."

He lifts his shoulders in an easy shrug, looking perfectly unbelievably indifferent. "It happened. I changed my mind. I'm moving on. It's not a big deal."

"Did you talk to Freddie?"

He sighs and moves a hand to the back of his neck. "I appreciate that you're concerned, but it's not an issue. It isn't something you need to worry about."

It very much feels like something I need to worry about, because more and more, he is someone I worry about, and I'm pretty sure he's lying.

And not just to me. To himself.

"What about the engagement? People have been asking questions all day."

"Just tell people the truth. We're dating, but the media turned it into something it wasn't. Since I won't be at the concert, it won't take long for people to forget they care."

So that's it then? We're really just forgetting any of it ever happened?

Adam tilts his head toward the door. "Want to walk me out? I have a few things for Ringo in the car."

I don't want him to go without talking about this, but I also don't want to make him talk. So I just say, "Sure," and follow him outside.

He opens the hatch of his SUV and pulls out a tote bag stitched with the Hope Acres rescue logo.

He holds it open. "Food, his favorite toy, new collar, new leash." He loops the bag over his shoulder and turns back to his car and slides a smallish dog crate forward. "Plus the crate he's been using—Sarah started him on his crate training last week—and another bed he's been using for spot training." He pulls a dog bed forward and sets it on top of the crate.

"You give all of this to every person who adopts?"

He shrugs, his expression sheepish. "I hate the idea of people starting out at a disadvantage because they can't cover the basics."

"Adam. This is way more than what your adoption fee covers."

"It's not a big deal. The rescue has the funds to cover it." He makes quick work of unloading everything and leaving it on my front porch right by the door. "Thank you," I say. "This will definitely make things easier."

"No problem." He reaches forward and scratches Ringo's ears. "He's been such an easy puppy. I don't think he'll give you any trouble."

"Can I bring him with me tomorrow night? "

"Sure. He can hang out with Goldie. Come over at seven?"

"Okay."

Adam steps closer and settles his hands on either side of my waist, gently tugging me against his chest, Ringo perched between us.

"It's good to see you," he says.

I look up to meet his eyes, and he bends down, pausing for the briefest second before pressing his mouth to mine in a lingering kiss. His lips are soft and warm and intoxicating, and I feel myself leaning in, forgetting my earlier anxiety because gah, it feels so good, so right to be in his arms like this. We hit six seconds and keep kissing, melting my fears and worries one by one.

Adam lifts a hand to my cheek, brushing his thumb over my jaw and triggering a wave of goosebumps across my skin.

"See you tomorrow?" he says, his voice low.

I nod. "I'll be there."

Five minutes later, Percy finds me in the living room, sitting stone still on the couch, Ringo curled up on my lap.

"What happened to you?" he says. "I didn't even hear you come back in."

"Adam brought me my puppy," I say.

"I see that."

"And he kissed me and invited me over for dinner tomorrow night."

"Okay, and why don't we sound happy about that?" He drops into the chair across from me and pulls a yellow-fringed throw pillow onto his lap.

"I am happy about that, but also…I don't know. I'm worried about him."

"Why? "

"Because he clearly doesn't want to talk about what happened with the band. It's like he just locked it all up inside. He said he changed his mind, but I don't know, Percy. I think he's hiding from how he really feels . "

"Which is how? What do you think he's feeling that he isn't saying?" Percy asks.

"I think he wants to sing," I say.

Percy leans forward, his brow furrowed. "Okay. But does that mean he has to do the concert? Because Freddie's agent sounds pretty terrible."

"His agent is terrible. But Midnight Rush isn't. I saw them together. I just hate the idea of him throwing everything away."

"Are you sure that's what he's doing?"

"I'm not sure about anything. I only know what Freddie told me, because Adam won't talk to me about it."

"Okay. New question." Percy says. "Are you sure you don't just want him to do the concert because then you'd get to be Deke's girlfriend?"

"One thousand percent—that is not it," I say. "I would never pressure him into something like this for my sake. Honestly, it's the opposite. My life would be easier if I didn't have to share Adam with the world. I would love not to worry about stupid TMZ articles and TikTok videos."

"I can't blame you there," Percy says. "The comment section on that one video was brutal."

"What? Are you for real?"

Percy's eyes widen. "No! I was just…guessing that it might be. I didn't see anything."

"Percy."

He winces. "Fine. Yes. Definitely don't read the comments. "

I groan, and Ringo lets out a tiny bark.

Stupid Kevin.

Stupid jerkface Kevin who ruined everything.

"Maybe it really is for the better," Percy says. "You and Adam could have a good life in Lawson Cove. Without having to deal with all of that mess." He reaches over and scoops Ringo from my lap. "Now give me this cute baby." He leans back in his chair and plops the puppy on his chest. "I'm going to be a very good friend and hold this precious puppy while you finish your dinner."

I think about Percy's words for the rest of the night. While I'm eating. While Percy tells me about a cute new administrator at Shady Pines named Jamal. While we watch two episodes of Schitt's Creek and cry through the "Simply the Best" episode.

By the time Percy goes home and I'm standing in the front yard waiting for Ringo to pee for the fifteenth time, I'm almost convinced.

Maybe I can just let it go.

Maybe I can have a relationship with Adam, and it will be enough.

Maybe we can both forget that once upon a time, he was in a boyband.