“We’re close.”
He narrows his eyes at me. “How close?”
“Not that close.”
He chuckles. “Well, either pick up your phone or come out with us and pick up a regret. You know what I’m saying?” He wiggles his eyebrows, and in truth, picking up a regret doesn’t sound so bad right now.
In the end, I choose both.
I pick up my phone from the bench and glance at Cole. “I’ll go out with you. After I take this call.” I slide the button to answer, calling her by her last name in my greeting. “Hey, Barker.”
“Can I come stay with you for a little while?” she says with no greeting in return.
I groan. I already know how messy this could get as I fight my feelings for her, just like it has every time I’ve gotten this same call from her. But none of that is reflected in the words that fall from my mouth. “Yes, of course.”
“I have a few things to tie up here, but I’ll text you my info once I have it,” she says.
“Are you doing okay?” I ask gently.
“Yes and no. You know?”
“Yeah,” I mutter.
“Like…I knew it was coming. There were signs.”
“So, what makes this time different?” I ask, referring to thefor goodpart of her text message.
“He did it this time.” She says it simply. “Before it was always me.”
“What do you think happened?” I ask.
“We’ve been stuck in the same place for a long time. I love him, and he loves me, but we’ve been floating in the friend zone, the roommate region, for quite some time.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?”
“I don’t know.” I can picture her shrug as she says it, her delicate shoulder raising up a bit as she tries fruitlessly to put into words why she kept something from me when we talk about most everything else.
Relationships, though, I suppose that’s the one field we kept at bay. I don’t tell her about mine, and I don’t want to hear about hers.
I don’t have any to talk about.
The one she had…now it’s over.
That doesn’t mean this is my chance.
Frankly, I’m not quite sure what itdoesmean other than the fact that it’s ripping me up inside, and I think I need to follow Cole’s advice to pick up a regret tonight.
My phone beeps with another incoming call, and I see it’s my brother Liam calling. With my father being chased by the FBI and my mother knocking on death’s door, it feels like I should answer it.
“Liam’s calling,” I say softly, and she knows me well enough to understand why I’m telling her.
“I’ll let you go. But you should know that Archer signed something that could incriminate him in your dad’s stuff in Vegas.”
My chest tightens. “Shit. Is he okay? Are you?”
“Will be, I guess. I’ll let you go. Love ya. Can’t wait to do breakfast with you in Tampa.” She hangs up before I can tellher that Liam can wait. She hangs up before I can even reply, but I say it in my head.
Only it sounds a lot different when I sayI love you, tooin my head than her friendlylove yabetween two old pals.
