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“You’re not just putting me off?”

“No, Jarrett. I’m asking you to let me get there.”

I nod. She means it. I can dislike waiting without making her defend the answer.

She takes a sip from her glass, then asks what happens if I get traded before we figure any of this out.

“I still want to see you.”

“I want to see you, too.”

“Then we work it out.”

“You make that sound very simple.”

“I can get you a flight.”

“I have clients. Rae works nights. Sometimes I have Zion. A flight isn’t the whole question.”

I look at her bag by the stairs. She planned this one weekend away with two other women and a show she wanted to support. I can decide to get on a plane and leave people to arrange what happens after I land. I’ve been doing it long enough to forget how much work that spares me.

“I can come here, too,” I say.

“When you can. We’ll need to be honest about when you can’t.”

“Fair.”

She stands to take our plates, and I get up with her. At the sink, she puts them down and turns toward me.

“I’m sure I want you,” she says. “I’m still figuring out what some of this will ask of me.”

I put my hands at her waist. “You can figure it out with me here.”

“That’s the plan.”

I kiss her, and she holds the front of my shirt. When I draw back, she reaches into my pocket, takes out my phone, and sets it beside hers on the counter.

“Cam’s going to love that,” I tell her.

“Cam had yesterday.”

She takes my hand and leads me upstairs.

Chapter 17

Jarrett

Graves passes the Bala exit without looking at me. He gives it another mile, which tells me he has been saving whatever he plans to say.

“Something wrong with the gym in Bala?”

“No.”

“Trainer move?”

“No.”

“Just felt like going all the way to West Chester.”