Page 138 of Unmanageable

She answers on the fourth ring.

***

“You’re late.”

My shoulder bumps against hers as she stops beside me, and for a second, my lungs feel like they’re actually working again.

She doesn’t look at me. She looks at her boots, her toes tapping against a crack in the pavement near the office entrance.

“Dean called me this morning,” she says. “The Reign is offering four years. No-movement clause on the back two, but the salary is weighted so the escrow doesn’t hit the cap for 3 years. It’s a clean deal, Finn.”

“I don’t care about that, Scottie,” I say quietly.

I reach into my pocket and pull out the stack, the blue rubber band snapping against my thumb as I slide it off. I hold them out between us, the cardboard white and yellow against the gray light of the city morning.

“We didn’t finish the deal.”

Scottie looks at the cards. Her lower lip gives one very small, very brief twitch before she bites down on it.

“We shouldn’t,” she says, shaking her head. “The trip is over, Cash. We’re back in the city. You have ice time at one o’clock.”

“We finished the miles,” I say. “We read them out loud. That was the deal.”

She looks at me for three long seconds. When she realizes I’m not going to put them back in my pocket, she lets out a sigh.

“Fine.”

She reaches out and takes the top card from the stack, her thumb catching on the edge where the postmark is stamped.

“Philadelphia,” she starts reading, her voice tight. “‘The radiator sounds like it’ll explode any second and your driving skills are legally actionable. You sang three verses of that country song about a tractor and you somehow got every single lyric wrong. I had forgotten what the sky looked like without a skyscraper in front of it. Not sick of you yet.’”

I smile, the ache in my chest loosening just a fraction. I turn over my first card—a picture of a diner in Philly.

“‘Your hair is doing that thing where it sticks up over your ear because you slept against the window. You bought trail mix, beef jerky, gummy worms, and three energy drinks and somehow called it lunch. If you die of nutritional negligence, I am not explaining this to Ivy. Also, please don’t eat the gas station egg salad.’”

Scottie laughs.

I close my eyes for half a second. God, I missed that.

“You told me the egg salad was fine.”

“I lied,” I say. “I just wanted to see if you’d actually eat it. Your turn.”

“Washington,” she reads. “‘You fell asleep holding a french fry. I took a picture. Your future political career is over. The motel coffee was the worst thing I’ve ever tasted, the mattress felt rotten, and it rained all afternoon. Still one of my favorite days. Funny how that works.’”

I chuckle, the sound low against the brick wall, and flip over a card. It’s the one from the edge of Charlotte.

“‘You were reading beside the window this morning and the sun kept catching in your hair. I missed three exits staring at you. I keep trying to remember the exact wording of the no-dating clause of our contract, but all I can think about is how much I want to pull over by the creek and see if your skin smells like the wind out here. You’re ruining my focus, Sharky.’”

Scottie’s cheeks turn a deeper shade of pink, her fingers tightening on the edges of her remaining cards until the paper bows slightly.

She clears her throat, looking down. “‘I watched the shadow of the dashboard move across your mouth for an hour. I like who I am when I’m with you and I think we’d be very good at annoying each other for the rest of our lives. I think I’m in trouble, Finnian. I think the boundaries aren’t working anymore.’”

We move through them like that, one by one, our voices dropping lower as the stack gets smaller.

“Atlanta,” I say, looking at the blue ink that had smeared when I spilled water. “‘Every gas station cashier falls a little bit in love with you. I’d appreciate it if you’d stop creating competition. If someone asked me where my favorite place is right now, I’d probably point at the seat beside me. Home used to be a location. Lately, it feels more like a person.’”

She doesn’t answer for a long time, so I take another card.