Page 400 of Double or Nothing

The Toastique Pro light changes to green. I hear the click of it.

Jack lifts his head.

“Excellent timing, Toastique. Kept the sentimentality within tolerable limits.”

“Stop it, asshole.” I laugh. “We’re too far past your charade to buy into it.”

I release my pair of loved ones and open the toastie lid.

Bryce was right. Cheese has escaped down both sides. He gives me a look.

“Not a word,” I say.

“I wasn’t going to say anything.”

“You were thinking it.”

“I was. Yes. It was overfilled. Simple fact.”

Jack reaches past us, tears off a piece of melted cheese, and eats it straight from the edge.

“Still excellent.”

I divide the toasties between three plates and sit beside them.

For a while, all we do is eat.

Cheese stretches between bread and mouths. Bryce keeps having to put down the ice pack in his quest for more. Jack attempts to steal half of my pastrami and receives a slap on the wrist.

It’s messy.

Ordinary.

Perfect.

I look at them over the edge of my toastie.

“I’m home,” I say. “I mean really home. For good this time.”

Jack’s movements still. Bryce looks at me.

The words feel different now I’ve said them here. Not a desperate declaration outside the apartment door, or a wail of relief in a cab.

A simple fact, delivered with ease.

“I’m home,” I repeat. “And I love you guys so much. Thank you. For being there for me.”

Bryce reaches for me first. His good hand closes around mine.

“I love you, too. I’ll always be there.”

Jack’s fingers settle over ours.

“I love you both,” he says.

No joke.

No clever quip, or raise of his eyebrows.