The next morning, Tessa heard the doorbell ring from inside the house. They’d just gotten back from Chicago, and she’d stopped by because she’d forgotten a case of Cosette’s cat food. Making sure first, of course, that Leo’s car was nowhere in sight. She’d just grabbed the food and was staring at the dishes, beer bottles, and pizza boxes and wondering what kind of bomb went off while she was gone when the front door opened.

“Leo. You look terrible,” she heard Juliet say from the living room.

“Really terrible,” Vivienne added.

Leo. At the front door.

She ran to the room, where her sisters sort of had Leo cornered in the foyer.

“He’s not smiling, is he?” Vivienne said, shaking her head.

“Definitely not smiling,” Juliet said as Tessa walked up behind her.

“Well, Viv and Juliet,” Leo said in his most patient voice, “for one, I live here, so I’m not sure why you’re guarding the entrance to my house. And two, maybe I’d be in better spirits if you both would’ve told me you all had already left Chicago.”

“Oopsie,” Viv said, covering her mouth with her hand. “So sorry,” she added. But she didn’t seem sorry at all.

“In our defense,” Juliet said, “we did tell you where we were staying. Right before we left.”

Tessa pushed her way through the barricade of sisters to see Leo standing there. He was rumpled looking, his hair sticking up, his eyes a little wild. Which for some reason made her heart lurch wildly in her chest.

He caught her eye.

And that made her heart squeeze with hope.

But she tamped that down. Because…she’d ruined things. And because…because he didn’t love her. He’d said that.

Happy, sunny, good-natured Leo had been so attractive to her. He’d made her laugh and taught her not to take herself so seriously.

But she needed more.

She needed someone to love her. To need her. And to not be able to live without her.

And Leo was not that guy. Because Leo didn’t need anybody.

He looked at Tessa. “Could we talk?”

“It’s okay,” she said to her sisters. “I can take it from here.”

“We’ll be right inside if you need us,” Juliet said.

“Thanks,” Tessa called over her shoulder. Then she examined Leo further. He was bedraggled, his eyes rimmed with dark circles. One pocket of his shorts was inside out. And his T-shirt was on backward.

All of which, she thought, were very good signs. Because who wants a man to look terrific after a giant argument?

“I know you don’t exactly trust me,” he said, “but I—I was wondering if you’d come for a little drive with me. I want to show you something.”