Page 86 of Wells

"Exactly. And I'm better for it. What happened while I was gone?"

I pull into my parking spot and kill the engine. The sudden quiet makes a chill run through me.

"Well, in the span of a week, Wells and I ran the gamut from ice-cold shoulder to 'let's see where this goes.'"

"Shut the front door. Are you two dating?"

"That's a loaded label. We're talking. And it's super new."

I press my forehead to the steering wheel and close my eyes.

Locke makes a sound I can only describe as smug satisfaction filtered through delight.

"I knew it. What does 'talking' mean? Are we talking dinner? Are we talking multiple dinners? Are we talking you finally stopped pretending you don't like him?"

"All of the above."

"Oh my God. Cera."

I lift my head and stare at my building. The porch light flickers. Someone left a bike chained to the railing.

"It's good. I think. I mean, it's probably wildly inconvenient and destined to cause professional digestive distress, but once we stopped pushing against whatever it was pulling us together, and we talked about it like adults, he's been more consistently nice."

"I swear I knew it would become something the minute you said you were working there. I've seen the pictures of those Stone men, and they have good genes."

"He is nice on the eyes, but there's more to a relationship than that."

"See what happens when you take what you want instead of sitting back and trying to follow all the rules?"

I laugh, but I don't respond.

"Okay, that advice turned out to be solid."

My stomach flips.

I grab my bag from the passenger seat and push the door open. The humid early spring air wraps around me.

"I just got home after a long day that ended at the rec. Can we catch up tomorrow after food, a shower, and sleep?"

"Give me five more minutes. I need to know what's going on with Midnight, you little vixen, with your two men."

"Midnight's done. The whole thing is over."

Locke's voice shifts.

"What do you mean over?"

"I mean he didn't show up for Thursday's call, and when I checked Sunday, the whole account was gone. He deleted it. No message, no goodbye, nothing."

My pace increases as I reach my building and count four breaths before Locke speaks again.

"I knew it. Wife. She probably caught him."

"I guess. Who knows?"

I sound calm, like I mean it. I press the button for the elevator.

"That's probably the best-case scenario if you're trying to build something with Wells. Clean break and no overlap. Now there's no weird guilt about double-dipping on emotional real estate."