“Numbers?” Sierra repeats.
“Yeah. I mean, we’re in the same industry. We run into each other at events anyway. Might as well be able to... to text or whatever.” I’m rambling now, I know I am, but I can’t stop. “Professional courtesy. Or just, you know, making sure you got home safe after the storm. That’s normal, right? That’s a thing people do?”
She’s smiling now, soft and a little sad. “Yeah, Cole. That’s a thing people do.”
We pull out our phones and exchange numbers. Then she insists on getting everyone else’s too, and suddenly we’re allstanding in a circle in the driveway, programming each other into our contacts.
Like we’re making a pact.
Like we’re promising this isn’t really goodbye.
“I should probably get going,” Sierra says eventually, pocketing her phone. “Beat the traffic.”
“Right,” Malik agrees. “We should too.”
Nobody moves.
“So I’m going to get in my car now,” she continues. “And drive away. And you guys are going to do the same. And we’ll all go back to our normal lives. Right?”
“Right,” we all echo, though it sounds hollow.
Sierra takes a breath, then moves toward Jalen first. She hugs him tight, and I see his arms come around her like he’s trying to memorize the feeling.
“Thank you,” she whispers. “For everything.”
“Always,” Jalen murmurs back.
She moves to Malik next, then Dax, then finally to me. When her arms wrap around my waist, I pull her close and breathe her in one more time. Honeycomb and cherry syrup and home.
“This isn’t goodbye,” I tell her quietly. “It can’t be.”
“It’s not goodbye,” she agrees against my chest. “Just... see you later.”
“See you later,” I repeat, even though I have no idea when later will be. Or if it will happen at all.
She pulls back, and I make myself let her go.
Sierra gets in her car, starts the engine. We all stand there like idiots, watching as she backs out of the driveway. She pauses at the end, window down, looking back at us one more time.
“We’ll be right behind you,” I call out.
She nods. Gives me a soft smile. Then I watch her shoulders rise and fall in a heavy sigh before she waves.
And drives away.
We stand there for a moment, watching her car go.
“Well,” Dax says finally. “Fuck.”
“Yeah,” I agree. “Fuck.”
“Get in.” Our gazes shift to Malik and without a word, we’re moving.
We load into our own truck in silence. Dax drives, Malik in the passenger seat, Jalen and me in the back. He floors it, and soon we see Sierra’s little car ahead.
A breath of relief rushes through me as we tail her, watching her drive out of our lives, even though we’re following right behind her.
Nobody speaks for the first twenty minutes of the drive.
