Page 144 of The Overtime Kiss

Yes, it was an argument. A temporary estrangement, really. One that—Shoot, I need to answer my friends.

“Itistrue, but I am not ditching you,” I say, then gesture to myself. “Hello. I’m here right now.”

“True, but I’m pretty sure you were pretending you were busy with us when you needed to get out of things with him,” Trevyn points out.

“I hate you,” I tell him.

“Sorry. Not sorry. But it was impressive finagling,” Trevyn adds since he knows how I used my friends as a cover-up.

“Did you use us as a shield?” Josie asks salaciously, leaning forward in the chair. “I love that. We were like your secret excuse.”

“And why does that thrill you?” Everly asks her.

“Because it kind of makes me feel like we’re enabling this clandestine love affair. Like you had with Max,” Josie says to the team publicist. Then, to Leighton, “And you with Miles.”

“And youkind ofwith Wesley,” Maeve counters, then adds saucily as she plucks a cashew from the bowl, “butIwas not clandestine. Mine was simple and splashed all over socials.”

“Oh please, you were complicated in the most Maeve-ian way,” Josie says.

Maeve just flicks her hair off her shoulder, owning it. “Of course I was.”

Skylar clears her throat. “And now, Sabrina? Now it’s not forbidden with Tyler?”

I wince. I don’t know what itisother than…good luck with, well, everything.

“I honestly don’t know.” I sigh, but then brighten. “But I’m trying to be okay with that. You know what I mean?”

The mood turns serious for a moment, not surprising since the tune does too, withPlease Come Home for Christmasnow playing.

“That makes sense,” Isla says thoughtfully. “Sometimes relationships have to live in the in-between before you can figure out what’s next.”

“The in-between,” Leighton says thoughtfully. “I spent a lot of time there with Miles.”

Everly raises a hand. “Same here. You don’t always get to the other side until you’ve made it through the in-between.”

“And on that festive note, let’s open some presents,” Trevyn says.

“Yes, let’s do that,” I say, eager to move on to something certain, something knowable—friendship.

And when the night ends, Isla says, “Have fun in New York with your…”

She stops, clearly not knowing what to call Tyler.

I don’t either.

The flight takes off in the morning, with the kids settled into their comfy seats in the first row. I relax into my big seat right across from them. As the plane climbs higher, I scroll through pictures of Drama with her new family. A couple adopted her—two young moms who have two young kids. They’ve been posting pictures of the kitten on their social media, dubbing themselvesCat Ladies With Kids Too.

I heart the pics, then turn off my phone and stare out the window as the plane hurtles across the country for the holidays.

It’s a little surreal—six months ago, I was wearing a wedding dress and running away from a gaslighting ex and a mean father, straight into the arms of a hockey star.

Now I’m flying toward him. To spend Christmas with him and his kids.

Life moves fast when you least expect it.

Even though I still don’t know what to call Tyler in this in-between state.

I wish myself luck and hope I’ll figure it out soon.

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