Page 113 of The Rookie

Avery Sinclair,

Congratulations! You’ve been selected for the final round of the Fulbright Program.

Your in-person interview will take place in Washington, D.C., and requires immediate travel following your current location. According to your essay you are currently in Mexico.

Please confirm your availability at your earliest convenience.

I stare at my phone, blinking, barely breathing.

D.C.

Right after Mexico.

Immediately after Mexico.

My stomach tightens, excitement warring with something heavier, something more complicated.

Griffin’s voice breaks through my haze. “Everything okay?”

I glance up, my chest tightening when I see him watching me.

His eyes narrow slightly, reading my face before flicking down to my phone. And in that split second, I swear—he knows.

I swallow. “Yeah. I… passed the first level of the Fulbright Program.”

Griffin’s brows lift, then his whole face breaks into a grin. “No shit?”

I nod. “The first interview is in D.C.”

“Damn. That’s amazing! Come here.”

Before I can react, he wraps me up in a big hug, lifting me slightly off my feet like I weigh nothing.

His scent—salt, sun, him—wraps around me, his arms solid and warm, and I should be thinking about the email, about the interview, about what this means.

But all I can think about is him.

How effortlessly happy he is for me to be potentially moving to Spain next year.

It’s almost like a punch to the gut.

“Yeah…amazing,” I say. But I have to fight for the words to not feel hollow.

thirty-one

. . .

Avery

The margaritasthat night are dangerously strong, and I’m buzzed enough to feel weightless, my worries about the interview momentarily shoved to the back of my mind.

The four of us sit around a low table, the rooftop lights casting a golden glow, the faint strumming of a guitar from the live band in the background.

“Alright,” Jake leans forward, grinning like he’s about to cause trouble. “Never have I ever… hooked up with a professor.”

Kayla groans, taking a sip. “Ugh, that was one time. And he was barely older than me!”

Griffin raises an eyebrow at me. “Well?”

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