Page 80 of Bi-Partisan

Sophie giggles as he sets her drink in front of her. “It’s your turn, sheep farmer.”

He sighs and sinks into his seat. “Fucking sheep,” he grumbles as he rolls the dice.

I’m not sure how many more turns it ends up taking, but eventually Sophie wins, placing a final road and stealing the Longest Road title from Casey.

“Ha!” she exclaims, playfully sticking her tongue out at him.

“I was playing nice,” he says with a roll of his eyes.

“Sure, sure. Do we want to play another game?” she asks. “Adrian?”

Before I can answer, my phone dings on the table. Even though it’s not my text tone, I reflexively check it anyway. Disappointment mixed with a little self-loathing flows through me as I swipe away the news notification.

“Sorry, I know I’m being terrible company tonight,” I say, pinching the bridge of my nose.

“It’s okay,” Sophie says immediately. She reaches across the table and squeezes my arm. “I know you don’t want to talk about it, but you’re allowed to miss him, you know.”

Finally, I break. “This isn’t even the longest I’ve gone without seeing him,” I say, frustrated. “I didn’t see him at all between my birthday and DC pride, and I was fine.”

“Yeah, but you weren’t in your honeymoon phase, then,” Casey points out.

“Honeymoon phase?”

“Come on, you read romance novels, occasionally. You know what a honeymoon phase is,” Sophie says pointedly.

“Well, yeah, but isn’t a honeymoon phase usually at the beginning of a relationship?” I counter. “We’re not exactly at the beginning. We’ve been doing this since February.”

“For show, not for real,” Casey says.

“I just—” I bite the corner of my lip. “I guess I just feel… silly.”

“Love makes you silly,” Sophie says, then her eyes widen and she immediately adds, “not that I‘m saying you love him. Just that you clearly care about him, and sometimes those fuzzy romantic feelings can make you silly. And that’s normal. It’s also great.”

It doesn’t feel great. It feels nausea-inducing. It feels like all I want to do is bolt in the opposite direction. But I know that’s just the anxiety voice in the back of my head—the one I’ve been promising myself I’d try to stop listening to, at least where Jamie’s concerned.

Except ignoring that voice was a lot easier when he was still here.

Chapter 26

Jamie

Song: Wind & Anchor – The National Parks

The moment I see the Washington Monument through my windshield, something in me settles.

I love North Carolina. It’s my home, and it will always be my home. I loved getting to spend the past month traveling around my district and meeting my constituents. One of my only true complaints about being in Congress is that I sometimes spend more time in DC arguing with my colleagues over the smallest things than being hands-on at home. But after a month away, I have to admit that I missed this swamp town.

It’s a little surprising how much I did, actually. I’ve never really missed it during one of these long breaks before. Usually, I hardly spare the city a second thought, and a small part of me dreads coming back. But this time, I didn’t have the same melancholic, homesick feeling when I crossed into Virginia. I was… happy, and I don’t know what changed.

Except there’s a small voice in the back of my head telling me that I do know what changed. It sounds remarkably similar to Mina when she told me I looked do-eyed and lovesick watching Adrian assist the miracle of goat birth. It’s Adrian. That’s what changed. Before, I had nothing tying me to DC other than my job. But now, there’s Adrian, and fuck, I really missed him. It hits me almost like a truck.

I had waves of missing him over the past few weeks, of course. But I hadn’t let myself think about it. I couldn’t afford to. I didn’t have the time. I knew if I let myself sit with that feeling, it would feel a lot like it feels right now, and there would have been nothing I could have done about it other than call him. I can do something about it now, however. So when I pull up to a red light, I quickly change the GPS on my phone to route me to the garage closest to Adrian’s apartment.

Thankfully, because it’s nearly 10:00 p.m., parking isn’t too much of a nightmare. But with every minute it takes to get to his door, I get increasingly antsy. I’m also starting to feel the exhaustion from my drive, which makes for an unsettling combination.

Finally, his door comes into view, and I sigh in relief. I collapse the handle of my suitcase, then raise my hand to knock.

It takes about a minute, but then the door swings open to reveal my slightly rumpled looking boyfriend.

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