It only took a moment for the woman in my arms to freeze at my hold before she pulled back, eyes wide for a bare instant, before her face blanked.

“Mercy. It is you.”

I was usually far better with words than this. Only I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to say in this moment. It had been over two years since I had seen her. Two years since everything had been beyond reality and unable to actually see reason.

She looked much the same, though I knew her reality was anything but. With her dark blonde hair pulled back from her face, dirt on her chin, and pale underneath those red cheeks from either embarrassment, or fright, she was the same Mercy she had been before. But that wasn’t true. There was no way she could still be that same Mercy.

“Lexington.”

I held back a wince. I’d used to be Lex to her. I loved both of my names, but I’d never just been the mouthful of Lexington when it came to the woman I’d grown up with and had once called my good friend.

“Is this your house?”

She nodded before wiping her hands on her hips. “Yes. I didn’t realize you were working on the house next door. The Montgomerys really are everywhere, aren’t they?”

I opened my mouth to say something, but she turned to the person beside me.

“Thank you for dealing with that. I hate having to kill any living creature, but it was venomous, and I don’t really want it to go into another yard and harm a child or small animal. So thank you. Now if you don’t mind, I need to go inside. I’m late for work.” She gave me a look then. “Work that’s a little difficult with all the noise going on.”

I winced. “I didn’t realize you lived next door. When I went to visit all the neighbors to tell them we were adding onto the home, you weren’t here. I’m sorry if we’re too loud for you.”

“You own this place?” she asked and shook her head. “Of course you do. Of course Justin’s best friend lives next door to me. Because why wouldn’t you?”

I couldn’t help the scowl that covered my face at the mention of my former friend’s name. “I haven’t spoken to Justin since the day after and…” I let my voice trail off. “Well, the day after I saw you last.”

Because after Mercy and Emily had gone to the hospital, I hadn’t seen them again. They’d packed up and headed to a hospital with better care and on the top edge of research for Emily’s particular cancer.

I hadn’t even been able to check in on them because they had been so focused on keeping Emily alive, that I couldn’t even express my sorrow, or anger at Justin, to Mercy. The two women that I had hung out with as a child and grown up with had cut me out of their lives with a precision scalpel just like they had with Justin. And I had resented it.

Then again, my world had upended on its own a few times since then, so it wasn’t as if I didn’t understand finding a way into this new world. Only mine paled in comparison.

“I see.”