Page 40 of Missing Pieces (Men of Manhattan 3)

"It's not really that funny. How is she, by the way?"

"She's waiting to hear back from a bunch of law schools."

"I'm sure she'll get in. That girl knows how to win an argument." Josh laughed. "Ugh. Do you sometimes miss it?"

"Miss what?"

"College? When everything was simple. And we all lived close together instead of spread out all over the country."

College had been simple for me. Until I met Penny. She had slammed into my life full force senior year and disappeared just as quickly as she had come. Honestly, she had probably brought me more pain than joy. But some of those moments with her had been the highlight of my college experience. That was the problem. I kind of stopped living after I met her. "I don't miss the tests. But I do miss hanging out with you all the time."

"I have an idea."

"And what's that?"

"Come work with me. Hell, you could actually do it anywhere, you wouldn't actually have to move here. It's all online. But we'd get to hang out again."

"As appealing as that sounds, I can't."

"Oh, right. How's your job going? Business analyst, right?"

I shook my head. "I quit."

Josh laughed. "Not great then. So why can't you come work with me? Really, I'll beat whatever salary you had."

"No, it's not that." I hadn't said this out loud to anyone but my mom. And she hadn't taken it well. "I joined the Marine Corps."

Josh laughed.

"No, I'm serious. I'm driving to basic training."

He just stared at me. "Why the fuck would you do that?"

"I want to make a difference. I want to do something I can be proud of. And I couldn't stay in New York. Not after what happened. Penny was the only reason why I was there."

"Damn." He shook his head. "So you only have a few days of freedom left?"

"That's one way to put it."

"I'm sorry, man."

"I'm not. I don't regret it."

"Still. What does that mean for you and Hailey? Does she know?"

"No, she doesn't know." She doesn't need to know. "She just needed a ride to Pasadena and I was heading out to California anyway. We're just...friends." It wasn't really true. To me we were way more than that. But our time was limited. It wasn't like I was going to ask her to put her life on hold for three years when I had only known her a few days. It was what it was.

"Oh. Sharing a bed type of friends?" He smiled.

I laughed. "Can you blame me?"

"No, she's fucking hot."

"Yeah. She is." I felt bad agreeing to that. Because it was so much more than just her looks that attracted me to her. But it wasn't like I was going to say, "No, Josh, I love her personality." He had already given me enough shit in college for being hung up on Penny.

"So how is she in the sack? Better than that torch you're holding?"

I laughed. Josh was right. I had been holding a torch for Penny ever since we had slept together. But I wasn't sure I needed to anymore. "Hails is definitely a ten in bed."

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