I pulled Remi aside after the third time. “She’s fishing.”
“I know.”
“You think she’s trying to build a case against us?”
“I think she’s looking for a crack,” Remi said flatly. “So, she can shove a wedge in and blow the whole place wide open.”
“Why now?”
Remi didn’t answer. She didn’t need to.
The clinic. The fundraiser. Harlan. Me. We were visible now in ways we hadn’t been before. And Erin didn’t like losing control.
That night, as I locked up, I caught Harlan waiting outside, leaning against his truck. September air bit at my skin, the smell of woodsmoke already drifting in from the outskirts of town. He didn’t say anything when I stepped out, just took my keys, brushed his thumb over my knuckles, and kissed me like he’d been waiting all day for the chance. A steadying kiss, not greedy. Anchoring. Like coming home.
“Don’t let her get to you,” he murmured, meaning Erin.
I didn’t ask how he knew. I just leaned into him a moment longer than I meant to.
A week later, Jack showed up at the clinic unannounced. No suit. No legal folder. Just jeans and a gray Henley. He looked older, but not in the way that comes with wisdom. In the way that comes from carrying too much weight you never asked for.
Remi wasn’t in. Harlan had just left. It was just me and the slowtick of the front desk clock as Jack leaned against the wall, eyes on the floor like he didn’t know where to begin.
“You alright?” I asked, taking in the tension carved deep into his jaw.
He shrugged. “Define, alright.”
I waited.
Finally, he said, “It came in.”
I froze. “City DA offer?”
He nodded. “Official this time. Bigger caseload. More resources. Full relocation package. They want me in two months.”
I set down the chart in my hand. “Does Remi know?”
That’s when he looked at me.
And that’s when I saw it.
The hurt. The tired kind that doesn’t lash out, just seeps into your bones until everything feels too heavy.
“Does it matter?” he asked.
“Jack, come on. Of course, it matters.”
He gave a quiet, bitter laugh. “She’s already decided. She told me to go before I even said yes. Like… like I’m a car she’s giving back to the dealer. She's been pulling away since the first time it was discussed, when it was barely a maybe.”
“It’s not like that, and you know it. She’s trying to protect you.”
“Yeah?” His voice cracked. “What if I don’t want to be protected? What if I just want to be chosen? What if I want her to let me choose her?”
That landed too hard. Too real. Because we both knew what it felt like to never be someone’s first choice.
“I don’t think it’s about you,” I said gently.
“I know,” he replied grimly. “That’s the part that makes it worse.”
