Page 142 of Triple Play

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“Baltimore,” he says quietly.

And just like that, reality crashes back.

I got into Johns Hopkins. In Baltimore.

Grant’s going to Boston. Wyatt’s going to Chicago. Jordie’s—Jordie still doesn’t know where he’ll end up, but it won’t be Maryland.

Four different cities.

Four different lives.

“Hey.” Jordie catches my face. “Don’t do that. Don’t spiral.”

“How are we supposed to—”

“We’ll figure it out,” Wyatt says. “We always figure it out.”

“But what if—”

“No what-ifs,” Grant repeats his words from this morning, but his voice is rougher now. “We knew this was coming.”

“Doesn’t make it easier.”

“No. It doesn’t.”

We stand there in the kitchen. The four of us, holding onto each other like we can stop time through sheer force of will.

“I don’t want to lose you,” I whisper. “Any of you.”

“You won’t,” Jordie says fiercely. “Distance doesn’t change this.”

“Doesn’t it?”

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

HOME SWEET HOME

Elise

I’m crying into Grant’s shoulder, and I can’t stop.

They bought a house.

For us.

All of them rearranged their lives—their careers, their futures—so we could be together.

“I’m taking that as a good sign,” Jordie says behind me. His voice is nervous. Hopeful.

I pull back from Grant and look at all three of them standing in this empty room in this empty house that’s—

That’s ours.

“You’re all insane.”

“Yeah,” Wyatt agrees. “We’ve established that.”

“You can’t just—careers don’t work like that. You can’t just—”

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