He didn’t deny it though. And grilling him further was going to have to wait. Because I’d realized I wasn’t alone. Someone was walking across the park. Lit up by the Christmas tree at the edge. Hands in their pockets, head down. Coming straight to me.

Someone I recognized.

I promised to give Nick a call later, said bye, and tried to unscramble my brain. Urgently.

“Twiglet?” Fred held out his open packet.

“Most people call me Elle.” Wow, I was getting good at nerdy jokes. Fred smiled at me—his big, warm smile that made me feel like however much I’d messed up, things could be okay. I couldn’t believe this was one of the last times I’d ever see him.

“They help with anything…even freezing to death on a child’s swing.”

Could they help with really liking the nicest guy in the world—just as he got together with his ex? I took one in case. I was such a doofus. I should have just been honest with myself about how I’d felt about him, because now it was too late.

He sat down on the swing next to me. “That’s one good thing about living somewhere so small.” He looked around. “Nowhere to actually hide.”

“I’m not hiding…” I instinctively protested, but my mind didn’t have a clue what it thought—did I want to avoid him because of the Eve situation or spend every second with him, because I really, really liked him? “I was…”

“Going for a mid-evening swing.” Fred smiled, but he wasn’t throwing shade. “I do it all the time.”

He pushed himself forward. When I first met him, Fred had seemed so awkward. Cold, maybe. And now, in this most awkward of all awkward moments, he seemed to know exactly what to say to make all the weirdness disappear.

Oh hell. I liked him so much.

“I didn’t message Woody, you know.” My words hung in the air. I didn’t want to get in the way of him and Eve—but I did want him to know the truth. “Well, I did, but not like that.” Fred’s swing squeaked, but other than that, nothing. “Holly knows everything. He was just playing it to get at her. I think the whole thing was the final straw she needed to finally get closure.”

“So that whole call wasn’t a total disaster then?” Fred smiled. “Hol getting over Woody has been a looong time coming.”