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“Ah.”

“He also wanted to know if we were interested in going to his girlfriend’s show tonight.”

She’s not his girlfriend. Heat rushed to my face. “Tonight?”

“Yeah.”

I didn’t want to seem weird about it, so I made a point of encouraging him. “We should go.”

Calder’s eyes widened. “Seriously? You want to spend the night watching some dumb musical?”

“It’s not a dumb musical. It’s gotten rave reviews.”

“I didn’t realize you knew all about it.”

The day Rafe had told me her first name, I’d looked up his lady friend online, easily able to find her just based on “Cara.” I’d learned all about her background and the musical she was starring in. You know, a continuance of my really healthy behavior lately.

I swallowed. “He invited us once before, remember? I looked up the show thinking we might go. You didn’t want to, so we said no. Might be rude to decline again.”

“Yeah. Maybe.” He sighed. “Okay, whatever. If you want to go, we’ll go.” He took out his phone again. “I’ll text him to let him know.”

My stomach churned. Was that the right decision?

***

As I got dressed alone in my room later, I talked to myself. This is probably a mistake, but it’s a good exercise in facing reality, isn’t it? I supposed a small part of me also wanted to see the show. I loved musicals. But that wasn’t what this evening was about. I was determined to do the hard things and adapt to seeing Rafe with someone else. It was inevitable and necessary if I was going to continue living here. I hoped it would serve as the final nail in the coffin of my fixation on him.

I slipped on a black dress I’d deemed fitting for Broadway. It had tiny, subtle sequins. I paired it with high-heeled ankle boots and a fitted pin-striped blazer. Then I topped it with a chunky necklace. The dress was short and showed a lot of leg.

Calder entered the room and gave me a look. “Wow, babe. I might not be able to focus on the show.”

“You wouldn’t be focused on the show anyway.” I winked.

“Probably true.” He chuckled. “But damn, you look hot.”

I looked down at myself and spun around. “Well, thank you. We haven’t gone out on the town since I got here, so I figured I’d get into it.”

“I plan on getting into you, later.” He winked.

I forced a smile. “What’s the plan?”

“Rafe is meeting us downstairs in a few minutes. He just texted. We’re gonna share a car and go there together.”

“Perfect.” I gulped.

Calder and I descended the stairs to find Rafe already waiting by the front entrance. He was a whole vibe in a black leather jacket and black jeans. His hair was tucked behind his ears, showing off his angular features.

“Took ya long enough,” he teased Calder.

They clasped hands, and Rafe offered me only a quick glance. He said nothing. My stomach dropped a little.

The Uber pulled up outside, and the driver asked that we all sit in the back. He was immunocompromised and didn’t want to catch anything. We agreed, but the vehicle wasn’t all that big, so we were like one fucked-up can of sardines. Calder’s leg pressed against mine from the left, and Rafe’s pressed from the right. There was no way I could ignore Rafe’s presence now. Whenever the driver turned, Rafe’s leg knocked into mine, the heat of his body making me all too aware of his presence. But despite our bodies being close, though, Rafe otherwise pretended I wasn’t there. He kept looking out the window, away from me.

“Remind me of your girlfriend’s name?” Calder asked. “I’m terrible with names, and I know I’m gonna fuck it up.”

“Cara,” Rafe answered, still looking out the window.

Cara Champion. Twenty-five. Went to Juilliard. Grew up in Michigan. I could tell them as much of her life story as I’d been able to figure out from social media and the Internet. Perhaps I knew more about her than Rafe did.