Page 77 of Secret Twins for My Ex's SEAL Best Friend

I looked at my wallet, at the pithy amount I had left after my scene at the bar. “How about $500? One hour.” He glanced back at Delia, sighed, and accepted the cash.

Grinning, I turned back to Delia. “Come on.”

I offered her my hand as she climbed into the gondola, my hand a ball of light where she touched, and I steadied her as she sat down.

I settled across from her, and the operator pushed us gently off the dock, the boat swaying softly as it glided into the water.

Delia leaned back, exhaling slowly as she looked up at the sky. “What’s going to happen with you and Jeremy?”

I swallowed hard, watching her profile illuminated by the moonlight. “I think we’re probably done for.”

She sighed, “I guess I’ll have to get a different practicum supervisor, move to a different clinic. I’ll put in the request, but it’ll take ages, I bet. I might have to just avoid the clinic. I’m behind, anyway, with my missing hours.”

“Your missing hours?”

“Oh, right. You don’t know. That’s what Jeremy came to see me about. Apparently, the clinic is missing months of my recorded hours. Basically, six months. Two semesters. Gone. Just like that.”

Her voice cracked, and I reached for her hand without looking at her, offering her silent comfort.

“I can help you with that, you know. I have a lawyer on retainer. I could fix it for you.”

She had worked hard, and the hard work was gone. I’d been there before. It could be crushing.

“No, I can do it myself. Thank you, though,” she said quietly.

“Are you sure? I know how important—”

“You have to let me do some things on my own.” Her voice was still quiet but firmer this time, and she squeezed my hand slightly.

I grimaced, but I let it go. I’d done enough as it was. If she thought she could handle it, I would have to trust her.

We both stayed lying on the boat, one hand behind our head, one arm at our side, our fingers intertwined. It felt so natural, more natural than anything had felt in a long time.

After a moment of quietly watching the sky, Delia asked, “You really think your friendship is over with Jeremy? You’ve been through a lot. Maybe it could pull through.”

“It probably had a chance before I punched him. Now, yeah, I’m thinking it’s dead and in the ground.” I sighed, looking up at the sky, a sky which used to be dark, but now the city wouldn’t allow for it. The lights from people’s apartments left it so bright only a few stars were visible.

“I’ll probably have to find a different therapist.”

Delia turned to me and propped up on her elbow. When I glanced over, she looked serious, her brown eyes moving quickly over my face.

“That’s probably a good thing. I didn’t think it was appropriate for him to be your therapist, being your best friend. It’s a conflict of interest. It isn’t healthy.”

She reached out and stroked my face, and I flinched before relaxing under her hand.

“Eventually, it got that way. But, you know, when we met, he was my therapist only, and I guess I just…started to be afraid of telling someone else about what I had been through.” Her hand was warm on my cheek, and I leaned into it. “Not you, though. You’re easy to talk to.”

“I can’t be your therapist either,” she teased, bumping my shoulder with her hand. My cheek was cold in the absence of her palm.

I chuckled. “Well, good. Because what I really need is a girlfriend.”

Delia’s eyes widened a small amount, and her top lip covered her bottom, as though she was afraid to smile. “Do you mean that?”

I stretched my hand out and wrapped it around her head, pulling her close to me and craning my neck to kiss her gently on her wind-chapped lips. “I mean that,” I whispered against her mouth, as my heart pounded in my chest.

The silence between us felt charged, heavy with things unsaid. Delia bit her lip, her brows pulling together like she wanted to argue, but I didn’t give her the chance.

“When you were with Jeremy,” I continued quietly, “I thought you were too young for him. I thought he was out of line for dating you—his student—but I didn’t realize how much of that was jealousy.”

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