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“Oh, wow. Nice. When are you going?”
“Today,” Slate said. “Lunch.”
“Go to this ravioli place,” Nate said. “Dallas told me about it, and it’s amazing.”
“I don’t think they’re open for lunch,” Ted said. “Besides, lunch is casual. It should be pizza or pasta or something fast and easy.” He snapped his fingers. “You know where you should go? Mama’s and Papa’s. They’re lightning-fast, so if things aren’t going well, you won’t be stuck there forever.”
Slate hadn’t thought it wasn’t going to go well before, but now the worry ate at him.
“Don’t listen to him,” Nate said, stepping between Slate and Ted. “He doesn’t know what he’s talking about.” He turned his phone toward Slate. “The ravioli place is open for lunch.”
“And you have nothing to worry about with Jill,” Luke said. “It’s not going to go badly.”
“No?” Slate asked, putting the weights down. He wasn’t focused this morning anyway. “Maybe it will.”
“If you’ve already told her about the drugs, I don’t see how anything else would cause a problem,” Nate said.
“That’s because you’re good at talking to people,” Slate said.
Nate blinked at him and then burst out laughing. “Come on.”
“You come on,” Slate said. “None of the rest of us worked in the Unit Office.”
Nate stared at him. “I worked in the Unit Office because Ididn’ttalk. Not the other way around.” He scoffed and stepped over to the weight bench to spot Ted while he did the bench press. “If you ask Ginger if she’d like me to talk more or less, she’d said more before you even finished the question.”
“I don’t know what to say to her,” Slate said. “I’m going to screw it up.”
“We all screw it up,” Ted said. “Just be yourself. If that’s not good enough.” He shrugged and laid down on the bench. “Okay, Nathaniel. What have you got on this?”
“Just enough for you, Teddy.” Nate said, smiling at Luke. Slate looked at Luke too, who held a jump rope in his hand.
“I’m not tellin’ you anything else,Lucas,” Slate said, and that made everyone in the room smile—except for Luke, who hated being called Lucas.
“Come on,” Luke said. “I was just trying to help.”
“And who can we help you with?” Ted asked in a burst of air as he lifted the barbell with weights on both ends.
“Who what?” Luke asked, and Slate saw something in his eyes before he turned and started jumping rope.
“Oh, my stars,” he said. “You like someone here on the ranch.” Slate took his weights over to Luke, who refused to look at him.
“Nope,” Luke said. “Some of us are keeping are heads on straight so when the time comes, we can find out what the world has to offer us.”
“You’re still planning on leaving?” Nate asked from behind them.
“Yes,” Luke said, locking eyes with Slate. “Five more weeks, and I’m going to leave Hope Eternal Ranch.”
Slate frowned, because he didn’t want to be left behind. He also didn’t want Luke to have to go out into the wide unknown alone. He felt just as stuck now as he had in River Bay, and he once again questioned whether or not he should even take Jill to lunch that day.
