The moment had passed, and we hadn’t kissed, and I’d worn the watch every single day since.
And I’d been rewriting that moment with every kiss I’d had to pretend to be into in my whole career. That was the secret of my success.
Not that I ever planned on telling anyone that. It was embarrassing enough that I was still thinking about a kiss that never happened ten years later.
But Iwasstill thinking about it.
“Did it work?” Ward asked.
“Not even a little bit,” I said. “I’ll be late for my own funeral. But I’m optimistic it’ll start working one day.”
“Can’t believe it’s still running,” Ward said.
I’d had it repaired half a dozen times even though every time I took it to a repairer they told me the watch itself wasn’t worth what it’d cost me to get fixed.
They had no idea what it was worth to me.
“It runs on the power of friendship,” I said, only half joking. It did kind of run on that.
And hundreds of dollars in repairs, even when I’d been waiting tables and delivering pizzas by bicycle and really couldn’t afford it. Because it was important.
“What, like a My Little Pony?”
“Exactly like a My Little Pony,” I said. “If you listen real close you can actually hear tiny hoofbeats.”
Ward chuckled, and that hadn’t been the best joke I’d ever cracked, but I didn’t like him being all tensed up over me. He’d spent enough of his life worrying about me already, I didn’t deserve a minute more.
“Hey, Ryder?” Ward stretched one ridiculously long leg out in front of him. He was so big he made the armchair he was sitting in look like it belonged at a kiddie table.
“Mm?”
“It’s good to see you again.”
My phone went off in my pocket before I could say that it was great to see him, too—that he had no idea how glad I was to see him—and I pulled it out automatically.
Crap.
“I have to take this,” I said, wobbling as I stood up, gripping the back of the chair for balance. Ward gave me another one of his concerned looks, but I waved him off as I answered the call.
“Astrid,” I said, trying to sound as cool and calm as I could manage. I hadn’t spoken to my agent since she’d told me about… the incident I was currently running away from. She’d promised she’d call me once she had any news.
“I’m sorry, Ryder,” she said. “You’re fired.”
* * *
“Arewe not going to talk about the sex tape?” I asked as we wound our way into the comforting darkness of the woods. Ward hadn’t told me where we were headed, and I hadn’t asked. I didn’t need to know.
I’d lost my contract. I’d almost burst into tears in a café with a novelty rooster on the roof because of it.
Wherever we were going, it wasn’t as though it could make my day any worse.
“Wasn’t planning on mentioning it.”
Of course not. Ward was one of the good guys. He wouldn’t interrogate me even though he knew now how stupid and reckless I’d been.
“Seen it?” I asked, stomach twisting at the thought that he might have. It was bad enough that he knew—let alone the whole world—but worse if he’dseenit. I wasn’t sure I could handle the embarrassment.
“No,” Ward said, keeping his eyes firmly on the road. “Wasn’t planning on that, either.”
