Page 150 of Fly's Path

We break away slightly and look at it.

“I think you distract me.”

“Good to know.”

“Oh…I need to set a reminder on my phone to message Dahlia so she doesn’t worry when I don’t come back from my morning run.”

“You don’t need to worry about that.” He bends over and picks my bag up. “She’ll know you’re gone.”

“How? I just snuck out.”

“Security cameras. Maverick takes his wife’s safety seriously.”

“You mean…he’s watching us.”

“Probably not. But he saw me meeting you at the door.”

“Oh…maybe we should leave now.”

He grins at me, leans down, and kisses the tip of my nose before taking my hand. “You must be looking forward to our run.”

“Yes.” My body just isn’t.

“That was the most half-hearted yes I’ve ever heard.” He opens my door and helps me up into the seat before grabbing the coffee and running around to take his own.

“I’m looking forward to jogging with you and seeing your trail, but…” How do I explain this? “You know the friend I told you about? The one I helped yesterday.”

“Yeah?”

“Well, what she needed help with was her grandson.”

Fly gets a weird look on his face as his knuckles tighten on the steering wheel.

“The grandson was in therapy and refusing family visits and basically becoming a hermit.”

“So she wanted you to become friends with the grandson.”

“No, she wanted me to marry him.”

The car swerves for a second before Fly rights it.

“Maybe we should talk about this later.”

“No. It’s fine…She wanted you to marry the grandson.”

“Yeah, Viola seems to have meddler tendencies, but she has a kind heart.”

“And the grandson?”

I twist to face Fly. “This is the wildest thing. Her grandson is Gabe Vincenti. The football player Gabe Vincenti. Do you follow football? He got hurt winning the final game a little while ago.”

“Do you like him?”

“Of course, I mean, how could I not like Gabe Vincenti? He’s the best quarterback in the world. I’ve had him on my fantasy team for the last five years.” Who am I going to pick next year?

“No, Sheri, I mean, do youlikehim?”

“Excuse me? You didn’t just ask me that. But you did.” Tears fill my eyes. “You actually said that.”