Page 125 of The Rules of Dating

“Are you kidding? You handled it like a champ. You could’ve sent him away, but you knew facing the fire would be best. And it worked, I think. She and I didn’t fuck up because we’d had a chance to talk about what we were going to say.”

“I wasn’t sure if you were going to come back.”

“I probably wouldn’t have come back if I hadn’t located her in time.”

“How did you know that detail about the Tom Cruise movie?” I asked.

“I Googled spoilers on the way here.”

“Smart.”

He shook his head. “This whole thing is like a mind game, isn’t it? Like how fast can you absorb information?”

Colby’s phone rang, and he picked it up immediately. “Hello?” He turned to me and whispered, “It’s the attorney.”

Once again on edge, I watched as Colby spoke to him.

He pulled his hair in frustration as he listened. “Okay. Well, it’s unavoidable, so at least it’s set.” He stood up and paced. “Yup. Okay. That sounds good. I’ll see you next week on Thursday then. Thank you.”

After he hung up, he let out a long breath. “They set a date for the Stokes hearing. The attorney wants Maya and me to come in and meet with him this week so we can discuss a strategic plan.”

“Well, at least it’s progress.”

“Exactly. It’s like we have to go through hell to get to the other side,” he said.

“That’s a good way to describe it.”

A dark expression suddenly came over his face.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“I feel like today is hitting me in waves,” he said. “I’m so ashamed to have put you through that.”

I shook my head. “Don’t worry about me. I’m fine. Truly.”

“Well, I’m not. You’re the most important thing in my life besides Saylor, and to have to reduce you to a babysitter? That just felt so damn wrong.”

“Please don’t expend any more energy worrying about my feelings. It was all an act. I know that. I handled it. It’s all good, Colby. Get out of your head tonight and come back to me instead.”

I tried my best to reassure him, but I knew with the hearing looming, the coming weeks were going to be the beginning of a new and very difficult chapter in our lives. For tonight, I just wanted to make him feel good again. Make us feel good again.

There was only one thing I could think of that might make that happen. “Hey, I have an idea,” I said.

“What?”

“Let’s go to bed early and play Mr. Lennon fucks the babysitter.”

CHAPTER 27

Colby

“I spoke to Richard Weber a little while ago,” my attorney told Maya and me as we sat in his office the following week. “I usually give the investigator a courtesy call to let them know if I’ll be joining a client at a Stokes hearing.”

“How’d that go?” I asked.

He frowned. “Unfortunately, he didn’t think the home visit went as well as you guys did.”

Shit. I looked over at Maya. “Did he mention why?”