Page 190 of The Wright Man

"Yeah, well…" I shrugged. "It finally lined up. She's divorcing him. And I'm not about to waste a single second pretending I don't love her."

Sticks got quiet at that, just long enough for the weight of it to land.

"She's still married, though," he said slowly. "You ready for what comes with that? For the mess? The attention? The… permanence?"

I looked him square in the eye. "Yeah. I'm ready."

It wasn't bravado. It was fact. I'd been loving that woman my whole damn life. Quietly. Loudly. From a distance. From up close. Through every season. Every version of her.

Now that I had a chance to love her out loud, in the open? I wasn't backing down.

Riq gave a low whistle. "Damn. My boy done turned into a full-on simp."

"Fuck you," I said, grinning. "I'm happy."

"Same thing," he said, tossing a pair of gloves on the bench.

We spent the next half hour talking business—scheduling adjustments after the open house, onboarding two new trainers, debating which flavor of GhostFit's branded energy drinks we could actually get people to buy in bulk. The hours passed fast, but my mind kept drifting back to her.

The sound of her laugh echoing in my memory. The photo of her in that robe, tiara askew, cheeks pink from wine and joy.

My woman.

My home.

As I gathered my things and started shutting down the office, I found myself counting down the minutes until I could get back to her. Back to the rest of my life.

I stepped out of GhostFit and let the door close behind me, the late afternoon heat settling over my skin like a warm towel fresh out the dryer. The sun was still high, baking the sidewalk and turning the blacktop into a slow-cooking skillet. I stretched my arms overhead and rolled my shoulders back, muscles still humming from the workout. My body was tired in that good way—worked, but not worn. Mind clearer than it had been in days.

Just as I started down the steps, my phone buzzed in my pocket. I pulled it out, already smiling because I figured it was Angelica with another update from her wild-ass Sister Sunday.

Instead, it was Cap.

I answered on instinct. "What's up, OG?"

His deep voice came through like a bassline. "You ain't shy, is you boy?"

I laughed, low and cautious. "Uh-oh. What you hear?"

Cap chuckled like a man who already knew the answer and just wanted to hear me say it. "I leave for five damn days, go catch a few fish and some peace, and I come back to Angelica catching that boy cheating, planning on a divorce, and now I hear she already shacking up with your broad-shouldered ass?"

He let the words hang there, teasing but not mean. I rubbed the back of my neck, smiling hard despite myself. "I mean… that's the short version."

Cap grunted. "Hell of a forty-eight hours."

"Tell me about it."

He laughed again, then got quiet for a beat. "She told me everything. The whole story, finally. About Gavin. About y'all."

I didn't say anything. Just waited.

"I'm proud of her. That's not easy to talk about, especially with me. I know she ain't want me thinkin' less of her for lettin' that boy dog her out."

"You'd never think less of her," I said quietly, the words coming out automatic.

"Damn right," he agreed. "But you know how it is. Especially with Angelica—girl been tryin' to carry the whole damn world on her back since she was in training bras."

I exhaled a laugh. "Yeah."