“Christ, I’ve missed you.” He speaks into my hair.
“Me too, baby.”
I barely hear Cash mutter, “You two are hopeless.”
Someone passes in the hallway—the interviewer and cameraman—and we create some distance, but we can’t look away from each other. Miles’s gaze flicks across my face as if trying to take me in all at once, while giving each feature equal attention.
“I can’t believe you’re here,” he murmurs.
“I can’t take all the credit. This one”—I jut my elbow toward Cash—“pulled it all together.”
“Thanks, Cash,” Miles says without looking away from me.
Cash clears his throat. “So. I’m gonna just… go. I heard there’s a vending machine around here somewhere. I’ll give you guys a minute.” He’s already moving.
I mouththank youas he passes, and Miles gives him a thump on the shoulder.
We lean against the hallway wall, alone for the first time. We keep careful inches between us, but they seem to shrink by the second.
“Was that her?” I whisper. “The girl who broke your heart?”
Miles looks confused by my question, like he’s already forgotten about the woman who could only be his ex. With her husband and their child, if I had to guess.
He blinks and rushes out, “There’s nothing between us?—”
“I know.” I grab his hand, and it’s really freakin’ hard to let it go. “I know there’s not.”
He nods, another small smile. “That’s her husband. The general manager of the team.”
Now I’m the one nodding, but I stay quiet, hoping he’ll give me more.
“She wanted to apologize…” He pauses, eyes dropping to the floor, before they return to mine. “I emailed her once, maybe a year after we broke up. After she had the baby. I apologized, too,” he exhales. “She never responded. I figured she still hated me. Which didn’t make sense, not with her… new life.”
He shakes his head. “I thought I’d found closure years ago, but I don’t know—maybe it was good to hear I wasn’t the only one to blame.”
“Yeah,” I say on a breath.
“That’s not my kid,” he adds, like he hates that he has to say it. “I would never abandon my child.”
“Of course you wouldn’t. Did she—” I hesitate. There’s no nice way to say it, so I just do. “Cheat?”
He shrugs. “I suspected, but never asked.”
I can’t say I would’ve been this calm about the whole thing, but it’s very like Miles to put someone else’s feelings above his own.
Footsteps echo down the hall. Our minute is almost up.
“Come here.” Miles tugs me a little closer, but it’s still not enough. I take another step, and it’s still too far. I might sell a kidney for a kiss right now. Heck, maybe even just a hug.
I can’t continue on like this.
“I’m going to fix this,” I whisper, putting as much determination into the words as I can through the lump in my throat. I tilt my head up to look at him. “The hiding, the distance, all of it.”
“We’llfigure it out, honey.”
“I can’t keep doing this.” My voice cracks.
“I know.” He tucks strands of hair behind my ear, then pins me with his gaze. “I can’t keep pretending you’re not mine.”
