"She lives off that rumor." Poppy watches me carefully. "Brings it up whenever she can, clings to him at every event. You need to be prepared to see that."
I set the mug down and face them both, struggling to use my brain instead of my feelings. "Callahan lives with his father. He's the most private person I've ever met. I can't picture him letting anyone into that house for a hookup, letalone Cherry walking out half naked where the whole town could see."
"That's what we thought, too." Erin's voice lifts with hope.
"Exactly what we thought," Poppy agrees. "But the rumor stuck and Cherry has done nothing to correct it. If anything, she fans the flames."
"Just like she did with Ramsey all our lives." Poppy's voice goes cold.
"And Rome," Erin adds quietly. "Even though I was in the picture."
So Cherry Whatsherface collected unavailable men the way some people collected stamps. Noted.
"Have you ever just asked Callahan about it?"
They both stare at me, then at each other. The way they slump back against their seats tells me everything I need to know.
"No, we did not," Poppy admits, meekly.
"You don't just ask Cal something like that," Erin says in the same tone.
"Why not?"
"Because Cal is private and a question like that is very..."
I wait for her to finish. She doesn't.
"Okay, so while we're asking direct questions," Poppy cuts in, and I can feel it coming before she even finishes, "what is really going on with you and Cal?"
I could have dodged it. Almost did. But these are my girls, the real ones. The ones I'd been wanting my whole life. I was also extremely tired of not having someone to speak to about him.
"I like him." The words come out easier than I expected. "I'm attracted to him. I think about him more than I shouldand every time I'm in that house I feel like I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be."
It felt good to say out loud. Terrifying, but good.
"And I think he feels something, too. He watches me when he thinks I'm not paying attention. He waits outside my building until my light comes on. His eyes just melt every time I catch him looking."
Poppy's listening with her whole body.
"But…" I turn a fry over in my fingers. "He does everything in his power to avoid me, even in his own house. He leaves rooms when I enter them. He looks away first every single time. He won't let a conversation last longer than two minutes before he finds an excuse to be somewhere else."
I drop the fry.
"And I'm starting to think that maybe he just doesn't want me. That whatever I'm reading into it is just me, projecting, because I want it to be there."
"He wants you." Poppy says, like a fact. "Trust me."
Erin is stirring her coffee in slow circles, choosing her next words like she's stepping over something fragile.
"Lil, I love that you're here. And I love watching you come alive in this town. But maybe..." She trails off, stirs again. "Maybe Cal isn't the right place to put all this energy into right now. He's complicated. There's a lot going on with him that isn't about you. And this town is small enough that if things go sideways, it affects everyone."
It's said gently enough, but I hear what's underneath it. This isn't just Erin talking. This is Erin who goes home to my brother every night and knows things she isn't saying.
"You sound like you're warning me off."
"I'm not warning you off. I'm just saying maybe enjoy Harbor Hill for a while without making Cal the center of it."
I love her for being honest even when it isn't what I want to hear. But I also know that whatever Rome has said to her, whatever concerns have been whispered in their apartment late at night, none of it changes what I feel when Callahan Holt looks at me like I'm the only thing in the room and then turns away like it burns.