Page 28 of The Best Shot

“I’ll reach out,” I said.

“Good. That’s good.”

Behind her, Shaun had already sunk onto the sofa, the TV throwing blue light across his face. His PlayStation headset hung off the arm of my mother’s wingback chair, bulky and black against the pale floral fabric. Charging cords cut across the lace runner on the coffee table, and a controller sat beside the glass candy dish she still filled with peppermints nobody ate.

The living room looked like my mother from a distance.

Up close, it belonged to Shaun.

“Bye, Mama.”

Outside, the air felt thinner.

I sat in my car and shut the door, and the quiet pressed in around me. My hands tightened on the steering wheel as everything I hadn’t said pushed up behind my teeth.

I pulled out my phone and scrolled past the group chat.

Opened my agent’s contact.

Me: Anything coming up? I’m available sooner than expected.

Three dots appeared.

Diana: Nothing confirmed. I can look. What kind of timeline?

Across the windshield, the porch light flicked on, and through the front window Mama’s silhouette moved across the living room. Small. Busy.

Me: Anywhere. ASAP. Please.

The response took longer this time.

Diana: Let me make some calls. I’ll get back to you.

The phone buzzed in my hand again.

Hale: SOS. You around tonight?

My stomach flipped.

Ridiculous.

We were adults and we’d agreed it wasn’t weird, but I’d been avoiding him anyway. That night hadn’t stayed where I’d put it as easily as I’d thought it would. I’d been waiting for it to settle into background noise, and it hadn’t yet.

Another buzz.

Hale: Rocked your world, darlin’. You owe me.

Fucking Hale.

He wasn’t overthinking it. He was still himself, still easy, still ridiculous enough to make the knot in my chest loosen.

And just like that, I could breathe a little easier.

I smiled.

Me: Got that backwards, friend. You owe ME.

Hale: Fine. We owe each other. Help me out.