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"It's so nice you and your sister are close." I sit back in my own chair. "God, I remember like it was yesterday when you found out your mom was pregnant."

He huffs out a laugh. "Yeah, not the high school graduation gift I was expecting."

The lightness in his expression slowly dissolves until his brow forms the tiniest crease. I wait for him to continue as he sets his forearms on the table. Briefly, he slips his thumb under the links of his chain, then drops his hand and clears his throat. "That's probably my biggest re—"

My phone buzzes in my pocket, loud and disruptive.

"You should probably check that," he says nodding toward where my hand flew to hold it.

"I just have to make sure it's not anything work-relate—"

The rest of the sentence snags in my throat as Kent's name flashes across the screen.

I stare at it, a strange sense of inevitability settling over me. Like the universe is intervening again. A forced battle between the past I'm sitting with… and the future calling.

As if to mock me, the image I always flash back to pops into my mind.

Our school trip. The museum. Northern Alaska—otters drifting closely together on the water. A moose standing in the distance, massive and territorial. A wolf roaming in and out of view, restless. Surviving on instinct and movement.

A strange feeling swirls below my belly button that I can't quite name—nerves, anxiousness, maybe too much mashed potatoes. But before I figure it out, my phone buzzes again.

My thumb hovers above the screen for half a second. Then it flies to the red decline button before I can think any harder about it.

When I look up, Jace is already watching me.

"Any chance you're off tomorrow?"

He winces slightly. "Tomorrow night."

I tip my chin down. "Perfect. Me too—well, all day, but—"

"Come to my game first then?"

My mouth starts to close as the corners tug into a smile. "Even better."

27

Jace

Iscored today during the game. Not on the field, though I had a decent double that brought Ruiz home before our third out. But because she was there—in the jersey I gave her last time.

Alone—just for me.

And that? That's a grand fucking slam.

I'm not really sure what to think about us. I know our time is winding down, and after that she'll be off in some other city. But when I'm with her, the ticking clock just… freezes.

Maybe it's our past. Maybe it's the fact that I haven't let myself get that attached to anyone since. Maybe it's that I've been mentally preparing for her to leave—or convincing myself I won't care when she does.

They're all possibilities.

But so is the idea that her leaving doesn't have to mean the end of what we're doing here.

It's not ideal—I know that. Long distance. Phone sex. Short visits between series or when our off-days happen to line up. And we've failed at that before—trying to make it work in two different cities.

But I was never the one who thought her not coming to CMU meant the end of… everything. And that was before I traveled nonstop anyway.

Yes, Golden City is home now—especially with Mom and V here—but I'm in a new place every week. Why can't one of those places be wherever she is?