Page 105 of The Sweet Spot

“I’ve seen your new girlfriend,” Brooke says as I turn to go. “She’s cute.”

“She is.”

The bartender brings over Brooke’s drink. “Are you going back to Brazil this summer?”

I hesitate, wondering what her angle is. “Yeah?”

She nods as she brushes past me, her words almost lost in the chatter around us. “I sure hope she weathers the separation better than I did.”

* **

Fucking Brooke, man. I shouldn’t, but her words bounce around my brain for the rest of the day. It’s just like her to get under my skin, although in a much different way than she used to.

I’d like to think she was being spiteful, trying to wound me with the suggestion that Wren might be unfaithful, but that wasn’t the impression I got. She seemed honest, for once.

Maybe there was a tinge of spite in there, too.

At home, I take a quick shower and park it on the bed with my laptop, intending to get some studying in before calling it a night. I review my 3D modeling and linear programming notes for a while, trying in earnest to focus, but my mind keeps wandering.

Sighing, I switch over to my email account and pull up my father’s latest message, which contains an overview of the Mason-Ridley project and the team I’ll be working with at Veritas. Most of the names are familiar—I’ve shadowed several of Pai’s senior software architects in the past.

This time things will be different. I’ll be a real part of the team, testing segments of code some of the other guys are writing and checking for errors while writing code of my own. Pai’s trusting me to pull my weight, and I will.

The next email in the queue is my travel itinerary. I read through the details, once again recalling the disappointment in Mãe’s eyes when I told her I’d be leaving after all.

“But what about Wren?” she’d asked. That’d surprised me. I knew she liked Wren; I just hadn’t realized how much.

“She’ll be all right. She’s spending the summer with her dad, too.”

Mãe looked dubious. “The whole summer?”

I shrugged. “A good part of it. She’s excited she’s finally getting to leave the country.”

And it’s true—Wren can’t wait to go. Shit, I can’t wait for her to go—she’s finally getting to see the world, and she gets to see it with her dad. No one deserves this more.

But now, sitting alone in my room, I know that this isn’t just about her leaving; it’s about me leaving, too. I’ll be in Brazil long before she leaves for New York, and I won’t be back until she’s starting her junior year at UCSC. We’ll be apart for a long time.

Putting my laptop aside, I reach over into the nightstand and feel around until I find what I’m looking for. The photo strip, the first one Wren and I took at the boardwalk. We barely knew each other then, but man we had chemistry. Just looking at us kissing has me wanting to call her now, get her over here so I can do a lot more to her.

I rub at the ache in my chest, acknowledging what I’ve been feeling for a while now…that I’m falling in deep with Wren. Every day, every night we spend together, I give myself to her more. Going in opposite directions this summer is going to be hard—for me, anyway. It’ll probably be hard for her too; I know she’s in this with me. But she’s excited about this trip, more than I’ve ever seen her.

One of Arlo’s photographer friends, some younger guy he mentored at NYU or Tisch or something, will be with them in Mexico for a minute. Apparently, he’s got a magazine shoot Arlo and Wren can tag along on. He’s kind of famous, and Wren’s been all over his Instagram, gushing about how talented he is and how exciting it’ll be. He’s a good-looking guy, too, even if he is about ten years older than her.

Am I being weird about this? Is it fair to expect her to wait for me while we’re apart? Wren’s so fucking pretty. Guys check her out constantly, whether we’re on the beach or at the grocery store. I don’t cheat; it’s never been my style, but maybe we should cool it for the summer so she can do her thing. Have fun. Be free. If our relationship is worth its salt, we should be able to pick up where we left off, right?

The thought of taking a break makes me queasy, but not as much as the thought of her hooking up with somebody else. Maybe this is the smartest choice.

After all, Wren can’t cheat on me if we’re not together.

Wren

Giving myself one last look in the mirror, I smooth the delicate blue fabric of my dress and grab the pair of espadrilles I bought for this occasion. The weather’s cool now, so I grab a light jacket and stuff it into my bag. It’ll most likely get hot as the fog burns off, but one can never be too careful.

“I’m heading over to the field now. You just about ready?” I ask Saira, pausing near the door to buckle the espadrilles. Normally we’d attend UCSC’s commencement ceremony together to watch the guys walk, but she’s doing something with Kellan and his family afterward while I’m going with Luca. “I heard it’s already getting crazy crowded.”

She glances up from painting her toenails, nodding. “Kellan’s mom is saving me a seat.”

For someone who constantly warned me about the pitfalls of a friends-with-benefits arrangement while I was hanging with Dallas, Saira sure has fallen into an interesting situation with the eldest Morgan brother. They’re more friends than anything else—still no sex—but they hang out a lot. I’vegiven up trying to figure them out. If she’s happy, I’m happy.

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