Graham

Graham wasn’t waiting.

He wasn’t hoping to bump into her again outside the café.

He certainly wasn’t rearranging his morning routine to line up with the times Tessa usually breezed through the courtyard, Moose trotting along like the world’s most chaotic parade float.

He was just… managing his schedule efficiently.

That was all.

At least, that’s what he told himself as he sat at his usual outdoor table, laptop open but untouched, watching Tessa from the corner of his eye as she ordered her coffee inside The Nook.

He didn’t even notice when another chair scraped back across the patio.

Until someone dropped into it.

“You look pathetic,” said a familiar voice.

Graham didn’t even flinch.

“Hello, Miles,” he muttered, not looking away from his laptop.

Miles Bennett — his oldest friend, occasional partner-in-grumbling, and the owner of the realty office next door — leaned back in the chair, grinning like he already knew he was going to be a pain.

“You stalking the new girl now?” Miles teased, jerking his chin toward The Nook’s windows where Tessa stood chatting animatedly with Lucy.

Graham gave him a look that could curdle milk.

“I’m working,” Graham said coolly.

Miles snorted. “Sure you are. Looks intense.”

Graham didn’t bother responding.

---

Miles

He had known Graham forever.

He’d seen him fumble through bad haircuts, heartbreaks, and hellish tax seasons.

But he’d never seen him like this.

The way Graham’s jaw tightened slightly when Tessa laughed that bright, sunny laugh at something Lucy said.

The way he shifted in his seat — subtly, like he wasn’t even aware of it — every time Moose tried to pull her toward someone else.

The way his eyes flicked up every single time she smiled.

Miles leaned in on his elbows.

“You know,” he said casually, “for a guy who acts like dogs are agents of chaos, you’re awfully cozy with that giant furball.”

Graham scowled.

“I am not cozy.”

Miles smirked. “Tell that to the fact you now have dog treats in your kitchen. Lucy saw them when she dropped off your scones.”

Graham muttered something about needing new friends.

Miles chuckled. “You like her.”

“I don’t even know her,” Graham grumbled, but it sounded weak even to his own ears.

Miles didn’t let up. “You know enough. She signed her lease with me, remember? She’s not a stranger. Lucy practically adopted her into her circle already.”

Graham set his coffee cup down with a sharper-than-necessary clink.

“You’re imagining things,” he said tightly.

Miles smiled a little too knowingly.
“Sure I am.”

---

Tessa

When Tessa came back out of The Nook, she spotted Graham immediately — and this time, she noticed he wasn’t alone.

She recognized Miles right away — hard to miss the sandy hair and the easy, mischievous grin.
She gave him a small wave.

“Hey, Miles,” she said brightly as she approached, Moose happily barreling forward and sniffing Miles’s shoes.

“Hey, Tess,” Miles said warmly, giving Moose a pat. “You’re singlehandedly making the courtyard more interesting, you know that?”

Tessa laughed. “I aim to please.”

Graham, for his part, looked somewhere between mildly annoyed and… something else she couldn’t quite read.

Tessa turned her grin toward him. “Hey, Graham.”

“Hey,” he said gruffly, giving Moose a wary side-eye as if the dog might explode at any moment.

Miles rocked back in his chair. “Well, I better get moving before Lucy adds ‘late’ to the long list of things I’m bad at.”

Tessa laughed again as Miles gave her a quick hug and sauntered off toward Bennett Realty.

She dropped into the seat Miles had vacated without asking, Moose settling loyally at her feet.

“You don’t have to look so thrilled,” she teased Graham.

He eyed her, his mouth twitching.

“You’re a lot,” he said finally.

“And yet,” she said, resting her chin in her hand, “you’re still sitting here.”

He grunted something that could have been agreement. Or resignation.

Either way, she counted it as a win.

— Graham found himself wanting to stay a little longer.

Even when Moose woke up and demanded attention.
Even when Tessa started sharing terrible stories about her earliest photography gigs (“One guy wanted glamour shots… for his pet snake.”).

Even when his sandwich was long gone and his coffee was cold.

It was dangerous.

It was reckless.

It was starting to feel like the beginning of something he hadn’t planned for.

And Graham hated things he couldn’t plan.

But still, when Tessa grinned at him and said, “Same time tomorrow?”
He didn’t say no.

He just grunted — the universal Graham version of “maybe” — and watched her walk away with Moose trotting proudly at her side.