Page 21 of Consummation

“Today, actually. I’m ten hours ahead.”

“Oh yeah. Well, get some sleep, either way,” I write.

“I don’t sleep, remember? Sarah says I’m a droid.”

“Man, she’s got you pegged.”

“In more ways than one.” He attaches a smiley-face emoji.

I roll my eyes. “Try to sleep for a bit, Jonas. You gotta be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed when you bore Sarah to fucking tears at the top of Mount Olympus.”

“I’m not gonna bore Sarah to fucking tears at the top of Mount Olympus, motherfucker—I’m gonna bore her to fucking tears on the shore of the Aegean down below.”

“Either way, you need to rest up so you can bore her to fucking tears EXCELLENTLY, wherever the fuck you do it.”

“I sense mockery in that all-caps word.”

“Correct, sir.”

“Oh man, I’m so excited,” Jonas writes. “I’m about to become the happiest asshole-motherfucker alive.”

“So you keep telling me, Jonas. Over and over and over.”

“Sorry. I’m just so happy. It’s a new feeling for me. I don’t quite know how to handle it.”

I grin broadly at that. “I’m happy for you, Jonas. It’s pretty crazy. I never thought I’d see the day when either of the Faraday boys would ask a woman to be his wife. You’re shocking the hell out of me, actually.”

“I’m shocking the hell out of myself. It’s awesome! Hey, you think maybe you’ll shock the hell out of us, too? And maybe soon?” He adds a winking emoji and a cat.

“Hell no. Asking any woman to be my wife isn’t in my life plan, dude—even a woman as awesome as Kat. You’ll just have to represent for both of us.”

“With pleasure,” Jonas writes. “I can’t wait to call Sarah my wife.”

I roll my eyes again. “Good night, Jonas. Have fun tomorrow (today). Text me right after you ask her. I’ll drink a shot of Patron in your honor.”

“I will. Well, actually, I won’t text you RIGHT after I ask her, if you know what I mean.” He attaches another winking emoji and a muscled-arm emoji.

I chuckle. My brother is such a dork. “Hey, Casanova,” I type. “What’s with all the emojis? I didn’t know you even knew what emojis were.”

“I didn’t until recently, but Sarah uses them all the time. Funny, right?”

I chuckle. What has this woman done to my dorky-ass brother? Jesus God. She’s made him even dorkier than ever.

“Get some sleep, Mr. Emoji,” I write.

He sends me a thumbs-up emoji in reply and I laugh.

“Josh.”

I look up from my phone to find Kat walking into the waiting room, her face stained with tears. I leap up from my chair, instantly twitching with dread. Oh fuck, please God, don’t let Kat be here to tell me Colby’s dead.

Kat beelines to me and, without saying a word, throws her arms around my neck, presses her body into mine, and loses herself to wracking sobs.

Ten

Josh

I wrap Kat in a tight embrace and hold her to me for several minutes, kissing her hair, rubbing her back, my heart pounding in my ears, dreading whatever’s about to come out of her mouth.

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