Page 279 of Things Left Unsaid

Or winning the lottery without a ticket.

Right?

But then I kept an eye on her. I listened. Okay, eavesdropped. And I watched her with Zee. Who has to be the friend ‘Z’ she always talks about.

“This isn’t happening,” I mumble to myself, watching Tee beat Callan in some sort of battle scene inThe Witcher.

Yet the impossible, improbable, and implausible is happening.

She’s here.

In my kid brother’s gaming room.

Eating popcorn.

Literallykeeping upwith Callan, the know-it-all.

In fact, she’s whupping his ass.

And God, is she pretty.

I cut ties with her because I thought she lived in New York and I was making my home in Saskatchewan.

Now, I find out she’s movinginto my house.

“Cody! You going to play with us? I have another controller,” Callan calls out.

I shoot him a tight smile that grows tighter when Tee flashes me a look.

Her gaze is piercing.

Direct.

Just like the woman I came to know.

Just like the woman who got me through that fucking mess in Vladivostok without even knowing it.

Just like the woman I didn’t want to say goodbye to but who I wanted to protect.

Regardless of this revelation, nothing’s changed. Not really.

My goodbye will have to stand.

Even if she’s sitting so close to me, I could tangle my fingers in her hair and kiss her like I’ve wanted to for years.

Even though she smells like popcorn and I want to taste it on her tongue.

So many words I left unwritten…

…and I regret each and every one of them.

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