Page 44 of The Probability of Us

I just don’t know what that means yet.

His eyes pull together with concern when he gets close enough. “What’s wrong?” His hand reaches up to my cheek and his thumb brushes over my puffy eyes. When I don’t answer he turns to Ali.

“She got into it with Trent,” she answers, and his eyes widen in understanding, his mouth forming a littleO.

I squeeze his arm. “We’ll be back in a minute.They’re at the usual table.”

He nods. “I’ll grab us some drinks.”

“That’d be great,” I say.

He leans in to kiss me so casually in front of Ali, my heart skips a beat.

“Thank you,” I whisper as he pulls away.

“For the kiss or the drink or for . . .earlier?” His eyes are bright with mischief and desire.

A smile pulls at my lips. “Definitely the drink,” I tease. “I was only ever with you for the promotion money anyways.”

He laughs and kisses me again before heading in.

“Excuse me,” Ali says, gaping at me. “What the hell was that? And what happenedearlier?”

“Last night after we talked about everything, we kissed.” I sound like a schoolgirl talking about a crush who kissed her on the playground. “And after lunch today we played a three-on-three basketball game with people from both companies, and he came over after.”

“Oh my god,” she exclaims. “He hasn’t even been back a week and you’re already sleeping with him again.”

“That’s not the point,” I say as my cheeks turn red. She gives me a look that saysthat’s very much the point,but I ignore it. “He told me he still loves me, that he never stopped loving me.”

“Well, of course, he does,” she says and laughs when my eyebrows pull together in confusion. “He’d be an idiot not to, but good for him for finally stepping up.”

I sputter out a laugh. “Ali.”

“What?” She shrugs but her shoulders shake as she does. “He should’ve said something years ago.”

“You know what’s crazy,” I say, leaning back against the wall and looking up at the sky that’s still showing the last colors of the sunset before dusk hits. “If he had just asked me if I wanted to go to D.C. back then, or Trent told me how he felt, we could’ve had six years of living the life we dreamed of. We’d be married and probably have a couple of kids. We’d be doing everything we wanted to do, right now.”

She lets out a long breath. “True, but life would be so different if you did. You wouldn’t be living here right now. We wouldn’t be as close to each other, and we wouldn’t have nights like these.”

“I know.” I frown. I hadn’t thought much about how me leaving would’ve affected these friendships, but we’ve grown so much closer in the years since he left. I wouldn’t let us lose touch ever. “That part would suck, but we’d visit each other all the time. It’s not that far.”

“You really love him,” she says softly, and I nod, a light flush staining my cheeks.

“I really do.”

“I’m happy for you.” She smiles, reaching out to squeeze my hand. “And Trent will be hearing more from me tonight on this.”

“Don’t go too hard on him, the past can’t be changed now.” I sigh. I just needed to get my anger out, he doesn’t need to be punished further for it. “Besides I’ve forgiven Warren so I kind of have to forgive Trent—although, after I yelled at Warren he pinned me against a wall and kissed me until I couldn’t stand, so that helped with the forgiveness thing.”

“You two are worse than teenagers.” She shakes her head, but we both laugh.

I loop my arm through hers to head back inside.

There doesn’t appear to be any remaining tension when we get back to the table, but Trent looks like he’s avoiding my gaze. I try to let it go as I drop into the seat between Warren and Sterling and take a sip of the Blue Moon waiting for me.

“How is it being back after all this time?” Sterling asks Warren.

“I’ve missed this,” he replies, looking around at each of them. “It’s impossible to find friends better than you guys. It’s been a while since I’ve laughed this much.”

---