Page 103 of The Pocket Pair

The white curtain between my bed and the next one jerks aside to reveal James Graham. He’s lying in the hospital bed with one hand behind his head like he was sleeping, his motorcycle boots on the floor next to him. He’s wearing socks with Roy Kent’s face on them, which have to be a gift from my Ted Lasso-obsessed sister.

James and Winnie exchange a look.

“What?” I ask.

“Seeing Val might be … complicated,” Winnie says.

“Spit it out, Win.”

“Kyoko texted me a while ago. Val is on her way to the airport. I guess, with all your aforementioned idiocy, she decided to leave sooner than later.”

Moving as quickly as I can while testing my limbs and the pain in my chest, I sit up, swinging my bare legs over the side. “No time to waste. Let’s go. We’ve got to get to the airport.”

“To stop her from going?” James asks.

I slip carefully off the bed, wincing at the cool floor and the slight pinch in my chest. “No. She needs to go. But I need to talk to her first. To apologize, to explain. To tell her … things.”

I’m not about to say that I love Val for the first time in front of Winnie and James.

Winnie covers her eyes at the sight of me in just boxer briefs and tosses my jeans onto the bed next to me. “I approve. But if you want to grand gesture her, Casanova, you need pants.”

“Grand gesture her?”

“Don’t even pretend like you didn’t read the romance novels I left all over your house. Did you think that was an accident?”

“I just thought you were messy,” I say.

“I'm not a mess. I'm a mastermind.”

My sister might be a mastermind, but I’m a man who can’t put on his own pants. With the sling and the limited movement of my upper body, there’s no way.

Winnie darts out the door. “I’ll get the car. James, you want to help my brother put on his pants?”

The very last thing I want is James Graham putting on my jeans for me. No—make that the second to last. Because the VERY last thing I want is to get to the airport too late to speak to Val.

I eye James, then give him my very best smile. “You ready to take our relationship to the next level so I can win back a woman?”

James only grunts in response. I take that as a yes. And I guess it’s finally time to put him out of his suspense and give him my blessing.

It’s the least I can do if the man’s going to help me put on pants.

CHAPTER 31

Val

I’m not scared of flying. I’m not. At least I didn’t think I was.

No—I am an adult woman, and I am not afraid of the plane blowing up mid-air or crashing in a fireball, sharing my last moments with complete strangers.

Nope. Not scared.

Of course not! That would be silly.

Telling myself this doesn’t make me move any closer to the check-in area where I watched Mari do this exact thing not long ago. I’m standing in the middle of the airport lobby—is this called a lobby?—trying to psych myself up to approach the counter.

I have my passport. I have my driver’s license. I have my carry-on stuffed as full as it can be and my massive rolling bag with all the things I think I’ll want for the next … however long I stay.

Maybe I’ll stay forever? What kind of visa could I get if I wanted to stay? Because staying means I wouldn’t have to do this again and get on a plane. Ever again.

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