“It’s fine. I’ve had time to make peace with it.”
“Have you?”
I didn’t have an answer for that. On screen, our abandoned characters were getting destroyed by enemies that neither of us was fighting.
“Come on,” I said. “Let’s get food. I’m starving.”
The diner Tanner led us to was three blocks away, a squat brick building called Mae’s that had clearly been serving the same menu since 1975. The inside was warm and smelled like bacon grease and burned coffee, country music playing low from speakers that crackled on the high notes. We slid into a back booth with cracked red vinyl seats, and a waitress with steel-gray hair and a name tag that readDOROTHYappeared before we’d even opened our menus.
“What can I get you boys? Coffee’s fresh, biscuits just came out.”
We ordered too much—eggs, bacon, a short stack for me, French toast for Tanner, and a basket of those biscuits with honey butter. Dorothy called us both “sugar” and kept our cups full without being asked.
Halfway through my pancakes, my phone buzzed.
Hunter
Glad to hear you finally got your shit together.
I showed Tanner the message. He groaned around a mouthful of French toast.
"I'm going to kill him."
"You texted Hunter, didn't you." It wasn't a question.
"Last night. After you fell asleep." His face went pink. "He's been talking me off the ledge for weeks. I figured he deserved to know it worked."
"And I’d bet he told John."
"They share a bed. They share everything." Tanner stabbed at his French toast. "He's going to be insufferable about this."
We’re trying. Don’t make it weird.
Hunter
Too late. Already weird. You two should come to Wilmington for fall break. We’ve got room.
“Hunter’s inviting us for fall break,” I said.
Tanner set down his fork. “Both of us?”
“Yeah.”
He considered it, chewing slowly. The fall break coincided with our bye week—no game, no practice until the following Tuesday. Four days where I wouldn’t come home bruised.
“I want to show Lincoln my prototype data,” he said finally. That made sense. Not only was Lincoln Sims one of Patrick’s former teammates, he was also invested in player safety. “And I haven’t seen Hunter in months.”
“You sure? It’s a lot of togetherness.”
“Togetherness with people who know about us and don’t care.” He picked up his coffee and took a long drink. “That sounds kind of nice. Not having to be careful.”
“Then it’s settled.” I typed back a confirmation and set my phone aside.
Under the table, Tanner’s knee pressed against mine. Neither of us moved away.
“This is really happening,” he said. “Us.”
“Looks like it.”
