Crossroads—2026-03-27 (Patreon)

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Chapter 59: THRIFT TIME by Emma Knox

I suppose you can see me and Liza are at a thrift store. She found out about me liking to shop at them and wanted to know if I’d show her my favorite one. Of course I said yes.

She had to be in Brooklyn to meet with Hannah and Merritt at the Phase II site, so I agreed to meet with her at lunchtime. We grabbed sandwiches at the apartments and headed out.

Well, mainly, she wanted a few blouses for work. But she also wanted something cute for just hanging out.

“I’d like to not look like a homeless girl when everyone is visiting on Saturday,” she said, then added, “Even though I was one from time to time.”

I told her I thought she always looked cute, but she said I was just being nice. You can see from the picture, she found a real nice work blouse. I told her it looks like the kind of thing Hannah wears.

She agreed, so that one gets bought. We’ll keep looking for more.

Thanks for reading my story. See you next time.

Chapter 60: CHANGING PERSPECTIVE by Merritt Gray

This version is exclusive to Patreon

This week has been a big mental challenge for me. I’ve had a lot on my mind all week, and the demands of work have been, since starting Crossroads Phase II, intense.

I took a pause this week to look at where I am in the world, what people might think about me, and how my future in NYC might look. Everything was on the table except my faith—which is the foundation on which everything else is built.

I made some discoveries about myself: what I want, and things I need to change in order to be what I believe I’m meant to be.

Hannah and I were on the Phase II site earlier today, and we were heading back to wrap up the day.

I tried to bring it up to Hannah on the train. That was probably a mistake.

Not because it was a bad idea—just… wrong setting. Too many people, too much noise, too many ways to change the subject if either of us wanted to dodge it.

Still, I tried.

“I was hoping to talk to you about something,” I said, keeping my voice low enough that it didn’t carry past our seats.

Hannah glanced over, relaxed. “Okay…”

I nodded like that was enough for now.

“It’s nothing bad,” I added. “I just… want to say it right. I want to be clear.”

She gave a small smile. “Now I’m curious.”

“Yeah,” I said. “I promise, it’s not bad. At least I hope not.”

“You hope not? More curious now.”

I looked around the train and felt like everyone was listening. “It’s too noisy. I’ll get back to it later.”

She laughed a little. “Okay, later it is.”

That was as far as I got.

She didn’t push, which I appreciated. And I didn’t rush it—because I had no intention to say it halfway.

So we rode the rest of the way in that in-between space. Not awkward. Just… unfinished.

By the time we got off in Brooklyn, I knew I wasn’t going to get another clean setup handed to me.

So I stopped waiting for one.

We were walking back toward Crossroads where we were to have a final meeting about the day’s progress on the remodel. We weren’t in a hurry, so we were taking it at an easy pace. The light was starting to shift—late afternoon settling in, people out but not in a hurry.

I had my hands in my pockets, mostly so I wouldn’t do something dumb with them.

“Hannah,” I said.

She looked over. “Yeah?”

I nodded once, like I was confirming I was actually going to do this.

“Can I… circle back to what I brought up on the train?”

She smiled a little. “You mean the mysterious thing you didn’t say?”

“Yeah,” I said. “That.”

“Sure,” she said. “I’m listening.”

I let out a small breath.

“I’ve been thinking about something since Kent and I talked earlier.”

Her expression shifted just slightly—not concerned, just attentive.

“You mean the conversation you had with him when he said you were too nice to too many girls?”

“Yeah, that… I’ve thought a lot about that.”

She smiled a little at that, then looked down for a second, thinking. “Olivia, right?”

I was shocked. “What? You think? No… I mean she’s nice but… no… I’m not… I don’t have feelings for her beyond just being a friend in the apartments.”

“That’s not really obvious,” she said. “Kent’s not the only one seeing how you treat her.”

“No, I’m… I don’t have any feelings for her.”

“Wow…” she said, “I thought you were leaning toward her.”

I blinked. “Really?”

“A little,” she said. “I mean—pizza… hanging out… talking… just… the way it looked.”

“Just being nice. I hope you feel like I’m nice to you, too.”

We crossed at the corner, falling back into step on the other side.

“You’re nice to everyone, Merritt.” She looked over at me like she was trying to see through me. “You’re nice to me a lot, but then, we spend a lot of time with each other. Especially the last two weeks.”

“Well, what I wanted to say today isn’t just because we’ve been spending a lot of time around each other,” I said. “It goes back quite a bit further.”

“Alright,” she said, easy. “Go on.”

I glanced ahead down the sidewalk, then back to her.

“I’ve been thinking long and hard about who I am, what I want, and where I want to end up a year from now. And I’ve thought about what Kent had to say about me needing to pick someone and stop leading the other girls on—which was never my intent. Because I know who I have true feelings for. I’ve just been letting them fully form.”

“Not Olivia, though,” Hannah replied.

“It’s you,” I said. “Specifically you. I’ve had feelings for you for a while now, and I guess I was waiting for them to set up… a concrete metaphor… before I started building on them.”

There it was. There was no taking that back now.

“Best not to try and build on wet cement…” She was looking down, walking steadily—and I was a little worried.

Other than that, she didn’t react. She just walked along, head down. I thought she might be trying to figure out how to say no, but I figured I was already all in, so I went on.

“And I don’t mean that I pick you in a ‘we’re always around, so maybe we should try something’ kind of way. I’ve actually thought about it. It’s not just something convenient. It seems like all the dots connect with us. As far as I can tell, with us, all the pieces fit. I’d like to find out if I'm right.

She let out a small breath, almost like a “hmmm” but not exactly.

“Okay,” she finally said.

I nodded once.

“You’re easy to be around,” I said. “But it’s more than that, too. I respect you. I like how you think. I like how you handle people. I like your ideas, and how you listen to mine. I just…” I shook my head slightly. “It’s you.”

That felt about as clear as I could make it without overexplaining. We walked on for what seemed like forty-eight hours before she responded.

“So, now I know…”

That was pretty much a brilliant response. She heard me and understood. She wasn’t presuming to know what I wanted to do about my feelings.

I decided to just go on. “So, I wanted to ask—would you be open to me taking you on a date?”

We walked a few more steps before she answered.

“That’s not what I expected you to say next,” she said.

“I want to start somewhere. A date seems like a good place to begin. See how it goes… Take things forward intentionally.”

She didn’t answer my question. Instead, she made a statement of her own.

“I know you know I’ve been thinking about my own future. I’ve said my relationship radar was on, looking for possible guys that… might be part of the future with me. You’ve been on my radar all along. But I didn’t really think of you as an option.”

“Because of Olivia?” I asked.

“Lately that,” she said. “It just seemed like that was where you were heading, so I didn’t spend much time thinking otherwise. Of course, you had a pretty long ‘beyond talking’ phase with Emma. I never thought you were available.”

I nodded. “Okay. That makes sense.”

“I knew you were there. Of course. I just never thought of you as a possibility.”

There was a small pause—not uncomfortable, just… recalibrating.

“Take me on a date? Okay, so, I’m not opposed,” she said.

I didn’t react right away. I just let that land.

“Merritt, you have always been nice to me, and we really do get along. But I’ll have to change how I think about you,” she added. “I’ve never thought you were a possibility. I’ve always just seen you as a friend and coworker.”

“Yeah,” I said. “I get that.”

“It’s not a bad thing,” she said quickly. “Just different than where I had you.”

I gave a small nod. “I can work with ‘not bad.’”

She smiled at that.

“I think,” she said slowly, “if I were going to change how I see you… starting with something intentional makes sense.”

“That was the idea,” I said.

“So… yeah,” she said. “I’d be open to that.”

I let out a breath I didn’t realize I’d been holding.

“Okay,” I said. “Good.”

“Good,” she echoed.

We walked a few more steps, both of us a little quieter—still not in a bad way.

Just… different.

“Alright,” I said after a second. “Then I guess I should actually follow through on that.”

She glanced over. “You mean the date?”

“Yeah,” I said. “How about that Italian cafe we like?”

She laughed. “So, the ‘we like’ thing… You know we like it because we’ve been there together more than once.”

“Yeah?”

“I always liked being with you like that.”

“So did I,” I said. “So this won’t be too different.”

“Except it will be a date,” she said.

“Right,” I replied. “So how does that sound for tonight?”

She smiled. “It sounds really good.”

“We’ll stop by Phase II first,” I said. “Make sure everything’s good over there. See if the night crew has any questions. All that…”

“Of course,” she said.

“Then dinner,” I added.

“Then dinner,” she agreed.

And just like that, it didn’t feel like something big had happened.

But it had.

Chapter 61: TYPICAL FRIDAY BUT NOT by Hannah Madison

I’m sitting in the middle of my bed, replaying the day in a loop I can’t seem to turn off. I’m as surprised as I am pleased. I’m as pleased as I am hopeful.

As of now, Merritt and I are going to try dating. This came as a wonderful surprise to me. Let me explain.

Exclusive to Patreon…

After we wrapped up at the Crossroads Phase II site, we walked directly to a little Italian cafe we like.

There’s a lot going on in those last two words: “we like.”

There’s history there. There’s a shared past. There’s an understanding of each other.

Merritt told me he’s had feelings—thoughts about those feelings, too—for a while. He said he was waiting for them to set up and be firm before he acted on them. I respect that—a sensible, measured approach to matters of the heart.

We’ve eaten there enough to know what the other would probably order. We’ve shared talks—about work often, but not always. We shared dessert, which, looking back, seemed like something we were doing as a couple.

Tonight, luck seated us in the back corner—the one away from the kitchen and bathrooms. We were tucked away in a place where we could have been forgotten, where we were out of the path most others would take.

The service was good—anything but rushed. The conversation was better.

“The first time I knew how good we are together,” Merritt said, “was in Africa working on the pumps.”

“I liked that, too,” I admitted. “But you were with Emma…”

He looked down and nodded. “I was. But we were already stalled. We both knew it. I didn’t let myself think about making a change at that time. I just filed away how great the work had been.”

“We’ve always worked well together,” I said.

Then suddenly, we were bouncing from project to project talking about how working together had been fun, how it had been meaningful, too.

We ran out of food before we ran out of happy moments. We ordered dessert and shared it. This time, it was definitely a happy couple sharing chocolate cake drizzled with chocolate.

It was better than any time before.

Looking back, there’s a lot to process. If I’m honest, I could argue that I should have seen this coming—that maybe I shouldn’t be so surprised.

When Merritt was with Emma—even if it was never fully defined—I remember noticing them. Not obsessing, not wishing anything different, just… aware. And if I’m honest, there were moments I felt a little envious.

Not of her specifically, but of the way Merritt was with her. The steadiness. The attention. The way he listens like what you’re saying actually matters.

But I never let myself sit with that feeling long. It didn’t seem relevant. At that point, Merritt wasn’t an option, so there was nothing to consider.

And now somehow… he is. He asked me today if we could date.

That part still feels strange to say. Not in a bad way—just unexpected. Like something shifted slightly out of alignment, and suddenly a door that wasn’t there before was open.

And I keep catching myself smiling.

Could this be something? I don’t know why not. That’s the part that keeps coming back to me. There isn’t anything obvious standing in the way. No red flags, no forced logic, no “this could work if…” qualifiers.

It just… makes sense in a way I didn’t plan for.

But I don’t want to rush past the thinking part either.

Because when I actually look at it—we do match. Not just in the easy ways, like getting along or having similar schedules. It’s deeper than that.

We work the same way in a lot of areas. We both take responsibility seriously. We both think long-term. We both care about people—but in a way that still tries to be intentional, not just reactive.

Even today, on site—we worked through problems the same way. Not competing, not stepping on each other, just… building off each other. That’s not something you force.

And then there’s the way he said it. Not rushed. Not vague. Clear.

It’s you.

I don’t think he even realizes how rare that kind of honest clarity is.

So now I’m here, sitting in my room, trying to recalibrate something that’s been set one way for a long time.

Friend. Coworker.

And now… maybe something more.

I’m not all the way there yet. But I’m not closed to it either. On the contrary, I’m very open to it.

And that feels like a very real place to start.

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