“You can come to one of our games,” Chloe offered. “I’m sure Fatima wouldn’t mind.”
Amy pulled a face. “I still don’t get what you guys do in those games. It sounds kinky, all those dungeons and chains.”
“It’s chainmail,” Phil said. “And honestly, we’ve spent tragically little time in dungeons.”
“We literally just escaped a dungeon,” Chloe said, but Phil waved her off.
“That was the catacombs,” he said dismissively. “Just a glorified basement. Hardly a classic dungeoneering opportunity.”
“Nerds,” Amy said through a poorly-faked cough, then turned back to me. “So tell me about you and Morgan. When are you seeing her again?”
Chloe and Phil looked over at me, too; I never talked about Morgan with them, so they were getting this hot off the press, too.
“Next weekend,” I said.Really,anythingfor an appropriate change of subject!
“And what are you doing next weekend…?” Amy asked, drawing out her words like she was trying to draw the information out of me.
“I don’t actually know yet,” I said. It was sort of a lie; I had an idea. But I hadn’t fully decided yet.
“I’m sorry, you know you’re seeing her, but you don’t know what your plans are?” Amy asked. “That sounds like a date if I’ve ever heard one.”
I scoffed. “How can it sound like a date if we don’t actually have anything planned yet?”
Amy sighed and turned towards me, explaining as if I were a child. “When you have friends, you say ‘hey, do you want to do this thing?’ and you make plans around the activity. But when you’re seeing someone, you say ‘I’d like to see you again’, and then you make plans around the timing.”
“Yes!” Chloe said. “That’s absolutely right.”
“I don’t know,” Phil said, “I feel like sometimes we just pick days and then make plans around it.”
“Exactly,” I said. “Especially because I’m trying to help her try all these new things.”
“Oh, we don’t count,” Chloe said, waving Phil off. “We’re basically family. Amy’s right.” She turned her attention fully to me. “When you asked her to hang out for the day – and I’m assuming you asked her, because I heard you ask her to go kayaking, too – were you asking her because you were thinking, ‘we need to do more of these silly adventures, and I’m free at this time’, or were you thinking, ‘I want to see Morgan again’?”
I scowled at her, then took a deep breath and leaned my head back against the sofa. I thought about how I could answer that would contradict what she’d said, but I couldn’t. Because not only would I have sounded hella defensive, but she was right.
“Fine,” I said, sitting up suddenly enough that I spilled a bit of beer on my leg. “I wanted to spend more time with her. Can we not make a big deal out of it? I’m freaked out enough about it on my own as it is.”
I looked up at the three of them, who were all staring at me wide-eyed.
“Sure,” Phil said. “Sorry, mate.”
“Yeah, no big deal,” Amy agreed. Chloe just nodded.
“Thank you,” I said, grabbing the remote from the coffee table and turning up the volume on the TV. “Now can we please just watch Meg Ryan flirt with Tom Hanks?”
But as the little boy in the film spelled out F-O-X over and over, I descended into a spiral over whether Morgan thought next weekend was a date, too. And if she did, how she felt about that.
Chapter19
Jack
The idea I’d alluded to that night with Chloe, Amy, and Phil had built out over the next week, and before I knew it, I’d compiled a mini itinerary in the Notes app on my phone. I’d heard Morgan swap book recommendations with Grey, so I was pretty sure it would be a hit, even if she’d been before. Still though, I was questioning the plans up until the moment I arrived at Morgan’s house to pick her up.
I saw the “For Sale” sign hanging out the front and grimaced. She’d mentioned on a Monday a few weeks ago that her house was being sold, but I hadn’t noticed the sign before. I wondered how long she had before she’d have to move.
The green front door swung open, and out came Morgan, looking like the vision of summer in denim shorts and a strappy, flowing top. She smiled at me as she got into the car, then looked at the stereo, clearly expecting me to turn it up like I usually did. But today, I wasn’t looking to avoid conversation with Morgan. We’d opened up Pandora’s box the last time we’d hung out, and this time I was actually looking forward to the conversation part of the day.
During the drive, we talked about work – the block of flats in town that I’d been working on for the last few weeks, and the gala planning and fundraising for her. By the time we were close to our destination, I felt like I knew everything about her job. But I was surprised to hear that she’d been working on a freelance project, too.
