"Watch me."
"Luke..."
"Just shoes.Not a helicopter pad."
"A what now?"
"Long story.Involving Alex and too much money."I pause."Sage?We're okay, right?You've been distant this week."
"I've been...dealing with inn things."
"Still inn things?"
"Persistent inn things."
Something in her voice makes me want to push, to ask what's really wrong.
But Killian's words echo…
“Desperate enough to take any partnership.”
"Okay," I say instead."But if you need anything..."
"I know.And Luke?I'm looking forward to Saturday."
"Me too."
I hang up and return to find my friends deep in debate about bachelor party strippers.
"No strippers," Callum is saying firmly.
"What about tasteful strippers?"someone suggests.
"How are strippers tasteful?"
"They could quote Shakespeare while stripping."
"That's not tasteful, that's pretentious."
"Everything okay?"Connor asks me as I sit.
"Yeah.Sage is coming Saturday."
"Good.Mac likes her.Says she has 'good energy.'"
"She has chaotic energy," I correct.
"Same thing in Mac's world."Alex grins."So you're ignoring Killian's doom and gloom?"
I think about Sage's voice, the way she said "inn things" like they were weights dragging her down.Think about Killian's warning about savior complexes and desperate partnerships.
"I'm being cautiously optimistic," I say finally.
"That's new for you," Connor observes."Usually you're just cautious."
"Well."I raise my glass."Maybe it's time for something new."
We toast to that.Toast to new things, to Callum's wedding, to the statistical improbability of love after forty.
