She gave a momentary thought to accepting his phone. Getting him to unlock it, taking it into the bathroom, and opening that text. Reading the whole thread.

But it didn’t really matter, did it? If she’d learned one thing this year, it was that she had a voice. That she could ask for what she wanted.

She just needed to figure out what that was.

“I need to talk to Maya in person.” She made an apologetic face. “Sorry. I know you were planning to spend the morning here.”

He got out of bed. “Give me five minutes.”

In less than ten, they had checked out and retrieved the van and were on the road. Ten more and they were on the highway headed west.

As they drove in silence, Eve watched the familiar landmarks of Toronto recede. She went back over the mental list she’d composed this morning to see if, now that that immediate sense of panic had receded, she could do a better job unjumbling everything.

Reasons Eve Had to Get Home Right Now

     Home. She hadn’t done that on purpose.

But it did feel like she was going home.

Holy crap, she was so confused.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Chapter Twenty-Six

Something was wrong. Sawyer couldn’t say exactly what it was. Well, that wasn’t true. He knew what it was in a general sort of way. He just didn’t know what had triggered it.

It wasn’t like there weren’t several options. His insistence that they sleep—literally sleep—together, for one. That had probably been a step too far toward the kind of emotional intimacy Evie didn’t want. Or how about the fact that she’d witnessed him slowly lose his mind over the course of yesterday?

Or maybe it had nothing to do with the Toronto trip. Maybe it was the fact that the Mermaid Parade was tomorrow.

Whatever it was, the question was, could he fix it? Was he too late?

Why hadn’t he listened to his friends? Why hadn’t he listened to his heart? He had truly believed that it was too late for him and Evie, but he could see now how wrong he had been to not even give it a shot. To not give them a shot.

It had taken last night for the realization to hit. It had taken the knowledge that he needed her with him. That lying down next to her, holding her, made everything better.

That he would be a fool not to try to follow her back to Toronto.

He glanced at her as they hurtled down the 401. She was looking out the window.

He looked at her again as they left Kitchener behind. She was still brooding.

“Everything okay?” Clearly everything was not okay, but he wanted to hear her speak, to break this awful silence.

“Yep.” She kept looking out the window.