I nod. “Okay.”
“I love you.”
“Love you too,” I reply, reaching for a middle-school jersey and adding it to the same box.
Gus texts just before midnight, letting me know he’s outside with my keys. I pull on a hoodie and head into the yard, watching him gather up the blankets in the truck’s bed and jump out.
The wide grin on his face basically tells me the answer, but I ask, “How did it go?” anyway.
“It was good. Really good.”
“That’s awesome, man. I’m happy for you.”
“She wants to plan our next date, so I won’t have to bug you with ideas for at least a week.”
“You weren’t bugging me, Gus. I’m sorry if?—”
“Hey, I was kidding, Cap. Thanks for letting me borrow the truck. Was way better than the sedan would have been.”
He tosses me the keys. I catch them, tucking them in my hoodie pocket.
“I’ll see you at work tomorrow,” Gus adds.
I nod. “FYI, my mom’s over, gossiping with yours, so you’ve got a double inquisition waiting for you. And my mom tried to give me a ‘safe sex’ talk earlier, so that might come up too.”
Gus laughs. “She walk in on you and Wren?”
“Spied on us kissing.”
“Well, if you do it in the front yard …”
“You too? For real?”
“I drove by while she was waiting for you. I was just checking to see if you’d gotten back yet. Bad timing.” He hesitates before adding, “She’s leaving tomorrow?”
“Yeah.” I shove my hands in the pocket of my sweatshirt, fiddling with the keys. “I think maybe—probably—it’s for the best. I don’t fucking know. It’s so confusing with her, and then there are these moments of clarity when it all makes perfect sense. We’re like … a roller coaster, and I’m blindfolded, so I never know what part of the ride we’re on.”
“That sounds … fun and kind of awful.”
I laugh once. “Yep. It’s pretty much exactly that.”
“I’m here whenever you want to talk about it.”
“I know. And I am too. You’re never bugging me, and feel free to toss something heavier than paper the next time I’m being a shitty friend.”
Gus smiles briefly, but then it fades. “You don’t give yourself enough credit, Cap. You never do. You’ve got a lot of people in your corner. Think about why that is sometimes. And remember, we’re talking about Wren Kensington. There wasn’t a single guy, including me, who wasn’t interested when she showed up four summers ago. She picked you. I saw it right away. And it was still there at Lucky’s last night. That’s special.”
I half smile. “You sound like my mom. She’s convinced we’re some epic love story too.”
Gus grins. “Do you want me to grab a banana and demonstrate how to put on a condom next?”
I roll my eyes, spinning around and heading back toward my house. “Bye, Gus!”
“Hey, Cap,” he calls after me.
“What?” I turn back.
“Are your hands tied?”
