Page 22 of Rewrite the Rules

“Then you better move quick.”

I step out of the driver’s side to give Cody a fraternal hug. Instead, he wraps me up like a little child’s doll, lifts my feet off the ground, and spins me around like we’re long-lost lovers. A few cars behind us roll down their windows to cheer and clap.“Good for you guys!”

I glare at Cody as he sets me down. “Satisfied?”

He can barely respond, he’s laughing so hard. “Totally. But seriously good to see you. You look different.” He slaps my back hard, winding me. He hasn’t trained for nearly a year but still has the strength of a gorilla.

Cody tosses his bag into the back of the SUV and slides into the passenger seat. We pull out of the airport and head straight into the packed highways of downtown Denver. Neither of us complains. This traffic is nothing compared to Manhattan.

“I thought it was supposed to be freezing here,” Cody says as he sheds his zip-up hoodie. I pray he doesn’t take off those boots. I’ve smelt Cody’s feet after a long plane ride and this car is new. It’s not ready to wreak. “It’s Colorado—the snowcapped mountains and all.”

“I was your tutor, so I know that science was never your strong suit but uh…you do understand how seasons work, right?”

“Shut up, man. You miss home yet?”

“This is my home.”

“You’re not serious.” I feel Cody’s eyes lock on me. “I thought this was all just temporary until you saved that Oracle firm.”

“Aura. And I like it here. In New York I spent all my time fundraising, but here I’m doing a lot more consulting and coaching. I get more face time with new startups. I prefer it.”

“Can’t you do that in New York?”

“Sure, but I can do it here too.”

Cody presses buttons and turns dials like a child in an elevator lighting up every single floor. By the time he nearly deafens us both by blasting the music and then turns on my hazards it’s time to intervene.

“What the hell are you trying to do?”

“How do I turn up the air? I’m about to have a heat stroke.”

“It’s that knob right over there. You have your own temperature controls for the passenger side.”

Cody tinkers with the temperature and finds the button for the cooling seats. “So, you like it here? You’re not just running from Juliana?”

“I was never running. It was a happy accident that Aura needed me. Juliana needs space. Every time she saw me around town it made things worse. How is she anyhow?”

“Peachy. According to Sasha, she’s going to fly out here and murder you any day now.”

Nice.Nice to know my absence from Manhattan is helping to cool her rage fire. “Great.” My grip tightens around the wheel until my knuckles lose pigment. “You’re still hanging out with Sasha?”

Cody teeters his thumb and pinky noncommittally. “Look man, time to stop beating yourself up about Juliana. That’s what I came out here to tell you. I was hoping it’d be after a few rounds so your stubborn ass would actually listen to me, but…there it is.”

“I’m not beating myself up.” I keep my eyes fixed on the blue Honda in front of me. It’s easier for Cody to call me on my shit when I’m looking at him.

“You left her the condo on the Upper West Side, the coupe, all your furniture…how does that not scream guilt?”

“It’s just to help tide her over until she gets back on her feet. I put her through enough.”

“Put her through what? I was there. I was literally there when you told her exactly what you were and weren’t looking for. What you said was crystal clear. You can’t help it if Juliana heard what she wanted and not what you said.”

It doesn’t matter. I appreciate that my best friend has my back, but I knew Juliana wanted to settle down, get married, and have children. I also knew she was almost thirty-two and in no mood to waste time. It was reckless. I should’ve known better.

“Lesson learned. I’m not doing that shit again, ever. The aftermath is not worth the companionship. I’m still mad I lost Felices.”

Felices is my pawed compadre that I had to leave behind, because technically it’s illegal to own a Savannah cat in most cities and I wasn’t going to risk bringing him to the airport. Private jet or not, security can be confiscating asses sometimes. He still lives with Juliana who hates him from the bottom of her heart, but she knows I adore that cat and right now she adores punishing me.

“Just get another cat.”

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