Page 126 of A Fool's Game

She starts to reach for it but pauses, blinks a few times, and then takes it. “Hello? Oh, no, I was just…well, yes, I was taking a nap,” she laughs.

I can’t help but smile at the adorably Gemma way she just admits to her would-be employers that they woke her from a nap. I glance over at Taylor and he’s awake now, smiling up at her as well.

“Yes, okay. I can do that. Let me see.” She holds the phone away from her ear and checks the time. “Sure, I can be there in half hour or so. Great, see you then.”

She sets the phone down on the bed and bites her bottom lip pensively.

“Well?” Taylor asks, impatiently.

I’m secretly grateful. I’m just as eager to know one way or the other.

“They want me to come back to follow up and talk about next steps. They say they chose someone local for the full-time in-office position, but they have a low-residency option, and they want me.”

“That’s great, Gem. What does low residency mean?” I ask.

“The position runs September through June, just like a school year, and they say I’ll just need to be here for one work week at the beginning of each quarter and the rest will be remote.”

“So you get the position and get to stay in Seattle? Dang. That could not be more perfect.”

“Did the cards tell you that?” Taylor teases, trying to pull her back into a snuggle.

She fights her way off the bed. “You know, I think they did. I just didn’t listen.”

Gem comes out of the Magnus Publishing offices two hours later glowing. “My supervisor is also remote, based in San Francisco, but she’s here now and I got to meet her. She’s worked with some of my favorite authors. I can’t believe I get to work with her.”

Her excitement is contagious, bringing Taylor and I out of the daze we’d fallen into after so long waiting on the bench outside.

“That’s fantastic, love. I’m so happy this all worked out.”

Gem smirks over at him. “And so happy we don’t have to move to New York?”

Taylor shrugs, but I cut in. “We’re moving here quarter time. We’ll get an apartment…” I spin slowly in place, looking up at the surrounding buildings. None of them look residential, but I point at the one across the street anyway. “There.”

Gem laughs and shakes her head. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”

“Oh, I’m so going to keep getting ahead of ourselves. This is our adventure, and we’re going to enjoy it,” Ainsley says.

And then we’re in a cab together, in a plane together, in my apartment together on the couch. And life is so calm and so mysterious and so…safe. I can make all the choices, and I can be led, and I can tell the truth, and I can listen.

After every year of my life being tracked in achievements. After watching myself grow up in the mirror, terrified that getting taller meant being seen that much more. After wondering every night before bed if I was ever going to figure it out.

One glance down at the band on my left finger, their promises, my own promise, is all I need to ground myself. We take this first step like we’ll take all the rest. Together.

Chapter 43

One Year Later

Taylor

“If you just get that last dresser in the truck with me, Tay, we should be able to handle the rest of the boxes.”

I grunt and head back inside. I’m exhausted from a full day of loading the truck, after staying up until dawn putting the final touches on the kitchen, but I’m determined to be here as long as my parents need me.

My mom comes up beside me and tucks herself into my side, the way she’s done ever since I grew taller than her in the eighth grade. “It looks so strange all empty like this. I guess I should have pulled the sofas out more often. I can’t believe all the dust.”

“Well, you won’t have to worry about that as much in the new condo since there’s wood flooring.”

She doesn’t answer and I glance down at her, finding her eyes on me.

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