Page 60 of Lose You Twice

“So you did ignore me.”

I wince. It sounds so much worse said out loud. “Yes.”

She crosses her arms, but it doesn’t feel sharp now. It feels like she’s holding herself together. “Why?”

I could tell her I was busy. I could point to class, treatment, film, practice, all the things that are true yet still not the real reason.

“Because it was you,” I say.

Her brows pull in.

I keep going before I can stop myself. “Because if I answered, I had to know what you needed. And if I knew what you needed, I’d have to figure out whether I was allowed to care.”

Wren goes still.

The words hang there between us, too honest, yet somehow not enough to bridge the divide between us.

I look down at the cart. Towels. Jerseys. A clipboard lying on top, with her handwriting on a sticky note.

She has always had messy handwriting, especially when she’s in a hurry. Big loops. Slanted lines. Words that seem to climb uphill.

“You can’t just ignore me because something feels awkward, Kai.”

That one lands cleaner.

“I know.”

Her eyes hold mine. “Do you?”

“I’m trying to.”

She studies me for a long second, then looks back at the bins. “That’s not an answer.”

“No,” I say. “But it’s the only honest one I have.”

A small breath leaves her that isn’t quite a laugh.

“I need this job,” she says, her eyes fierce, telling me this goes a lot deeper than she’s letting on.

“I know.” Her eyes cut to mine, and I correct myself. “Or I’m starting to understand.”

She accepts it with a tiny nod. “I don’t need you doing some captain thing where you warn everyone to behave around me.”

“I wasn’t going to.”

“Kai.” She rolls her eyes. “We might not be friends anymore, but I still know you.”

I pause, about to deny it again, then sigh. “Fine. I considered it.”

Her mouth twitches despite herself. “Please don’t.”

“I won’t.”

“And if someone gives me a hard time, I’ll tell Donnelly, or I’ll handle it myself.”

I look at her, about to argue, but she just lifts a brow.

Right, I’m supposed to be learning here. “I trust you to handle it.”