“Lily, I know that look on your face. You overthink, then you freak out.” I was in the kitchen with Rose. We were scrambling eggs and assembling various breakfast sandwiches. Violet, Nick, and Finn were up front handling customers. I looked up at Rose, who was brandishing a dripping whisk at me and accusing me of—the truth—I did overthink. I was doing it just now.

“I’m just worried. This is happening too fast. This is crazy, right? Tell me it’s crazy, Rose, tell me we’re moving too fast. That’s how I feel, and no one seems to understand. I don’t even understand.”

“It is fast.” She put the whisk back in the bowl of eggs, then smiled softly at me. “But it’s fate, Lily. I remember you two together. Don’t you? You could have it all back. You and Luke light each other up. I believe in soul mates and true love and destiny and all that stupid crap because of you. I had a front row seat to your love story. Sure, you two were sometimes so sappy I thought I was going to puke, but it was beautiful too. Get out of your head. Listen to your heart a little bit.”

Tears filled my eyes. I was so tired of crying. “I’m scared to trust him. Why do you trust him so much, Rose? Why can’t I?”

“Duh, you have the most to lose. We would lose a childhood friend, a sort-of brother. You would lose everything—again. But think of it this way, if you don’t try, you’ve already lost.”

When did she get so much better at this emotional stuff than me? Rose was the least sentimental person I knew. She started whisking eggs again. “Suck it up, Lily. Don’t be such a pussy,” she muttered.

Okay, that sounded more like Rose. I’d been getting worried for a second. “I’ll talk to him today. We need to sort some things out.”

Rose looked up at me and shook her head slightly. “Don’t jerk him around, Lily. Be in or be out, okay?”

I wasn’t trying to jerk him around. Was I doing that? I sighed and pulled out my phone to check my texts, and it reminded me that I’d had two hang-up calls last night on the landline at Gram’s. I needed to make time to talk to my dad about that.

“I won’t jerk him around.” I looked up from the sandwich I was wrapping. “Was Luke planning to come by? Did he talk to you?”

Rose avoided my eyes and shrugged.

“Is Lily here today?” I heard Luke ask from out front.

“Yeah, she’s in back. Lily!” Finn shouted my name, and I jumped.