“I understand. Thanks for meeting me. I feel a million times better now that we’ve talked.”

We stand, and he opens his arms. I hug him tightly one more time.

“Can I ask you something?” I ask when we step apart.

“Yeah.” He studies me, making me nervous, so I just blurt it out before I lose the courage.

“When did you realize things between us weren’t going to turn into more?”

He smirks. “When I saw the way you looked at my brother last weekend. Your connection to him is different from ours, and I noticed how you two interacted. You both light up around each other, even if the bastard won’t admit it. I’ve never seen him like that with a woman before. After some soul-searching, I refuse to be the selfish asshole who comes between you two. What you’ve got is the real deal, Hads.”

I swallow hard, thinking about Knox and how he’s pushing me away. “Yeah, well, I don’t think anything will happen between us.” I shrug. “But at least I’m not losing you.”

“You can’t get rid of me. I care about you too much. It’s why I flipped my shit about you being with my brother. I know how he is, and I didn’t want him to hurt you. He’s a dickhead eighty percent of the time, but he’s not a bad guy. Hopefully, he gets the stick out of his ass before it’s too late, and I steal you for good.” He shoots me a wink, and I snort.

He walks me to my Jeep and opens my door for me. “You should stop by the B&B and get lunch. Maize made chicken and dumplings, and I know how much you love them.”

“Ooh, I think I will.” I climb inside and roll down my window.

“What are your plans this weekend? You gonna be ’round?” he asks, leaning against the door.

I think about everything I have going on.

“Taking Ivy shopping with Harper, then I’m seeing The Nutcracker with a co-worker. Speaking of, any ideas of what you want for Christmas?” I leave out the part where that co-worker is a male doctor even though I hardly know him and we’re just friends.

He laughs. “A vacation.”

“Not sure I can help with that, but I’ll put in a good word with Santa for ya,” I tease, then we say goodbye. I wave, then back out of his driveway. The relief covers me like sunshine on a summer day, and I breathe easy again with the possibility that maybe things will go back to normal. I didn’t lose my best friend, and that’s all that matters.