Page 125 of The Best Shot

What I didn’t give him was what I was actually feeling. I didn’t have language for it yet. It was a slippery thing between worry and dread I couldn’t pin down without sounding dramatic even to myself.

Everyone else had plenty of language, though.

Diana emailed twice, once about equipment and once about funding, and both times ended the same way.

Have you confirmed your travel companion yet?

“I looked up the research station,” Ava said Thursday, sliding her phone across the table. “McMurdo. Over a thousand people during peak season. They have a gym and a coffee bar.”

“Cool.”

“Bowling alley, too.”

“Hmmm.” I turned the phone facedown.

Ava watched my face. “Still thinking about it?”

“Apparently.”

Her expression softened. “It will be fine either way. Even if he decides not to go. Six months isn’t forever.”

“Right.” I picked at the corner of a napkin. “Am I asking for too much?”

“No.”

“He’s acting like I am.”

“Then he needs to say that.”

Tabby loaded my e-reader with enough books for six months, then added another dozen for emergencies. She didn’t ask about Hale.

Annie grinned at me over the rim of her wine glass, lazy and wicked.

“You’re gonna freeze your tits off,” she said. “But I know you’re into that.”

“Occupational hazard.”

“Hale coming to keep you warm, or you flying solo?”

“Still deciding.”

“Mm.” She let it go, and Annie never let anything go.

I smiled. Answered questions. Sent the emails. Checked my lists, then rechecked them. All of it swirling around me while I waited for the one answer that actually mattered.

The celebration was loud.

The waiting was quiet.

And the quiet was starting to sound a lot like an answer.

By the fifth day I was done waiting.

We were standing outside the shop when I finally asked him.

Late afternoon. Sun sliding low, throwing long shadows across the lot—Hale leaned against his truck, arms loose at his sides, the garage bay open behind him.

“Are you coming or not.”