I wasn’t sure how much time had passed when someone knocked on my door. I didn’t move or make a sound. Hopefully, whoever it was would take the hint and leave, assuming I’d gone for a run or something. Another knock sounded, this one a bit more forceful.

The sound of a key in the lock hit me seconds before the door opened. I muttered something about nosy friends and pushed to my feet. “Hey,” I greeted, my voice a little hoarse.

Caelyn cast a worried look at Bell. “We’ve been calling you for the past two hours.”

I winced. “I think I left my phone in the car.”

Bell shut the door carefully. “We were worried.”

“Sorry, I wasn’t thinking.” After everything that had happened to her a few months ago, we’d been a bit more cautious with our personal safety. Leaving my phone in the car when I didn’t have a landline wasn’t something I’d typically do.

“When you didn’t call us back, we went by Cornerstone,” Bell began. Oh, crap. “They said you’d been let go. Why didn’t you call us?”

Her voice was gentle, but the hurt on Bell’s face had guilt leaving a sour taste in my mouth. “I just—I needed a minute to wrap my head around everything.” Mainly the fact that my life was crumbling around me.

Caelyn moved in closer. “I get that. But we want to be here for you.”

There was a pull inside me at her words, a tug of war between wanting to lean on them and wanting to stand on my own two feet. “Thank you. I appreciate it. I really do. My head is a mess, and I was just trying to sort it out before I called anyone.”

“You’re trying to keep us out,” Bell said. “When you’re hurting, you want to keep everyone at arm’s length.”

I opened my mouth to argue, anger lighting in my belly. But before I could get the words out, a realization hit me. When something sidelined me, I went turtle on the world, crawling into my shell and not letting anyone close. If I didn’t let anyone close, then they couldn’t hurt me worse than the pain I was already experiencing. But I didn’t want to be that way anymore. “You’re right. I don’t mean to do it. It’s just second nature.”

Bell glanced from me to Caelyn. “Did she just admit I was right about something?”

Caelyn grinned. “I think she did.”

I rolled my eyes. “Don’t get too excited. You’re still wrong about plenty.” Another knock sounded on the door. “Who now?”

Bell looked sheepish. “I might’ve called Ford, and he probably called Crosby.”