Restored funding. Updated package. Effective immediately.
My steps shortened without me meaning to, just enough to pull us out of rhythm.
“What’s up?”
I tipped the screen toward him.
Rhys scanned it quickly, then flicked his eyes back to me. “Isn’t that what he said he was going to do?”
“It’s been, like, twelve hours.”
“Yeah.And?”
I shook my head, slipping my phone back into my pocket, fingers lingering there longer than they needed to. “I thought there’d be more to it. Emails. Forms.Something.”
“Something that makes you jump through three more hoops first?”
“Exactly.”
He hummed. “Welcome to having someone wealthy and competent in your corner.”
We kept moving, falling back into step, but my attention was still stuck on yesterday.
Hekissedme.
It was quick enough that I could’ve missed it if I hadn’t been standing right there—close enough to feel the shift of his breath before it happened.
I’d stood under the water in the shower that morning and caught myself avoiding putting soap over the patch of skin his lips touched.
Totally normal.
Rhys said something beside me, but I didn’t catch it, too caught up in the loop my brain had settled into.
“He didn't have to do that,” I said. “He could’ve left it alone.”
“And now you’re feeling bad about it.”
“I’m not?—”
“Arch, you’re doing the thing.”
“What thing?”
“The one where you apologize before anyone’s actually asked you to.”
I let out a short breath, looking ahead again as someone crossed too close in front of us. “I’m not apologizing.”
“You are. You just haven’t said the words yet.”
My jaw ticked. “That’s not what this is.”
“You had something lined up. You handled it. And the second someone stepped in and made it easier, you started trying to figure out what that costs you.”
He’s not wrong.
The thought came fast and unwelcome, sliding in before I could shut it down.
Rhys bumped his shoulder into mine, not hard enough to knock me off balance but enough to pull me back into step when I lagged half a beat behind. “You didn’t force him to do anything. He decided to.”
