Page 65 of Smoke and Glitter

"What?"

"For the Nix O'Keefe tour. There is also talk of her firm opening a branch there."

I look at her.

"Seriously?"

"Enough people in London are turning their careers into PR nightmares I guess."

My chest is starting to feel too tight.

Summer keeps looking at me. "She'd be running the whole thing."

I set the bottle down. "When did you find out?"

"She told me a few days ago."

Working. Talk soon.

"How long will she be there?"

"She doesn't know."

"What does that mean?"

"It means the tour is months and the office is an office, Sam."

There's noise all around us. Glasses. Music. Somebody laughing too loudly three stools down. I hear all of it. None of it makes sense with what she just said. "When does she leave?"

"She told me she flies out in nine days."

I stare at her.

"Nine days?"

"Yeah."

The number doesn't fit anywhere. Nine days isn't talking about London or deciding whether to take a job. Nine days is a plane ticket and arrangements already made. It's leaving. I look toward the front door before I can stop myself, like Autumn might walk through it and make any of this make sense.

Summer watches me for a moment. "I almost didn't come tonight."

That pulls my attention back to her. "Why did you?"

"Because I don't want to get in between what is going on with you two, but I love you both." Her voice softens. "And she didn't ask me to come talk to you. I don't want to choose between the two of you, but I wanted you to know."

I don't say anything.

"I care about you, Sam. And I care about her. I was pretty sure you didn't know, and I couldn't decide which was worse, telling you something that isn't really mine to tell or letting you find out when she was already gone."

My chest feels tight enough that I have to take a deeper breath. "Did she take it because of me?"

Summer's fingers tighten around the glass, but there isn't judgment in her expression. "That's something I can't tell you."

"You know why, though, right?"

"I know some things." She shakes her head. "I won't betray her confidence, and if she wants you to know anything, it needs to come from her."

I look down at the bar.