A door opened overhead, and footsteps rang out.
We separated. She smoothed her hair and tucked her blouse back into her skirt. I straightened my jacket and lifted her laptop bag, handing it to her.
Whoever it was entered a different floor above, the door opening and closing.
We stood on the landing, both of us still breathing fast.
“I have to finish working,” she said.
“I’ll see you tomorrow.”
She nodded and went up the stairs.
I went down.
The lobby was empty when I reached it. I stood on the tile for a moment, staring at the front doors, trying to organize the thoughts that had been piling up since this morning.
I’d passed up a favorable trade two seasons ago. My old team had dangled it in front of me. More money and better positioning on the depth chart. I’d turned it down because I thought loyalty would count for something.
They’d traded me anyway.
I knew how it felt to be wrong about a situation, to believe one thing and have reality present a different version. But I couldn’t be wrong about Haley.
My phone buzzed in my pocket, and I pulled it out.
Brashe.The game you’re playing could get you benched.
Just that. No context needed.
I stared at the screen.
Everything between Haley and me was going to stop being private. The team had been watching, maybe drawing conclusions. Making assumptions that were probably accurate.
The coach didn’t know yet, but the clock was ticking.
I put my phone away and left the building, driving to my parking garage and leaving my truck. Entering my apartment.
Beau needed his evening walk. Our routine was important. Things like this kept the world manageable when everything else felt like it was shifting under my feet.
We did our usual loop. The park was quieter at this time of the evening, with only a few people walking dogs or cutting through on their way home. Beau investigated his favorite spots, and I let him take his time.
On the way back, I passed her building as she was coming out.
She had her jacket zipped up against the cool air and her hands in her pockets. She saw me at the same moment I noticed her.
Beau leaped around as if she was his long-lost owner, and he hadn’t seen her in years. She crouched down on the sidewalk, letting him put his paws on her knees, and told him he was very brave and very handsome and that she’d missed him terribly. She scratched his ears, and he flopped immediately onto his back, which he didn’t do for everyone.
When she straightened, our eyes met.
We turned and fell into step together, walking north.
We walked half a block without talking. It wasn’t uncomfortable. That was the thing I kept noticing about her, the silence that didn’t need filling.
We reached the corner where our directions split, and we both stopped.
She looked up at me, and I looked down at her and neither of us said anything about the computer room or the stairwell or whatever was happening between us.
“Goodnight,” she said.
