Chapter 2

My phone buzzed.

A text from Kathleen.

"Grant, you really went too far today."

"Ned has felt guilty about you this whole time. He begged me to bring him along, all he wants is to make things right with you."

"Do you have any idea how much you hurt him, treating him cold like that today?"

Yes. Kathleen knew everything about me and Ned. She wasn't in the dark about it.

Before her, I'd been in three relationships.

Every one of them fell apart because Ned inserted himself, until there was nothing left to save.

The first was the lead singer of the school band, who chased me for six months before I finally said yes. Two months in, at a party, she got drunk and kissed Ned in front of everyone.

The second worked at the coffee shop off campus. Half a year in, she broke up with me, and the iced americano that used to show up on my desk every morning started showing up on Ned's, a latte instead.

Every time, Ned cried when he apologized.

He said he never expected it to turn out like that. He'd only wanted to test whether they really cared about me.

I believed him.

I believed I just had terrible luck with people, and that he happened to be there to show me the truth.

But the third time, I kept it from Ned without even thinking about it.

She was the senior colleague who mentored me during my internship.

Well off, warm, all sunshine, the kind of person who never second-guessed a decision once she'd made it.

I really liked her. I trusted her.

Trusted her enough that I didn't need anyone to test whether her feelings were real.

And still, a year in, she knelt down in front of me with red eyes.

She said she'd fallen hopelessly in love with my best friend, and she asked me to let her go.

Ned stood off to the side, sobbing, holding my hand, begging.

"Grant, what do we do? If your mentor and I end up together, can we still be friends?"

I slapped him across the face.

Then I picked up my suitcase and left that city that same night.

I patched up the wreck inside me with work that never stopped.

Love was a failing grade, but my career turned out to be a surprise on the other end.

I lost myself in the good harvest of it,

until Kathleen walked into my world.

You could call it half an office romance. She was at the branch office, I was at headquarters.

Now and then our work overlapped.

Little by little, we ended up together.

In all my years, she was the first person who ever made me want to get married.

But now, reading her texts come in one after another, all I felt was how absurd it was.

"I know there's a misunderstanding between you and Ned."

"But when you really think about it, if he'd never gotten involved in those relationships, how would you ever have met me?"

I read that one several times.

Then I opened my banking app and transferred two thousand into Kathleen's account.

Three minutes later, she called.

In the background, piano music drifted through her car speakers.

"Grant, why are you sending me money?"

"For the gift you bought."

A pause on her end.

"That was a present from me. When did I ever say I wanted you to pay for it?"

The moment she finished, I heard Ned's voice, small and hesitant.

"But Kathleen, didn't it cost you over three thousand?"

Barely above a whisper, but I caught every word.

My voice stayed level.

"It was three thousand. But Ned already opened it, so that makes it used. It loses value."

"Also, I'm the one who booked that restaurant tonight, and I paid ahead of time. Your two shares, I already deducted those in there too."

"Oh, and if you feel awkward about it, just send the money straight to her. You don't have to give it to me."

When I finished, her end went quiet for a long moment.

Then Kathleen's voice came through, sharp with anger.

"Grant, what exactly do you want?"

Watching the streetlights race past outside my window, I kept my voice calm.

"Nothing. I just think from now on we should keep things clear between us, so it doesn't get ugly for everyone in the end."

Then I hung up, clean and done.

Back home, I showered first.

Then I sat down at my computer and opened the work I'd left one step short of finished.

Half an hour later.

I dropped it into the team group chat, and the chat blew up.

"Holy crap, done already?? And you smoothed out everyone else's parts too?!"

"Grant's a monster! No wonder they say Team B has all the luck. Ever since he joined, the bosses look at our whole department differently!"

"Wait, hold on, isn't today your birthday, Grant? Why are you still working?"

I was in the middle of replying when a private message from Manager Chavez popped up.

"Grant, the data looks great. Your work has always been something I can count on."

"That thing from before, have you thought it over?"

Manager Chavez meant the request I'd put in last week, on my own, to transfer to the branch office.

She'd found it hard to believe at the time.

The branch was out of the way, and it served a lower-tier market.

Even if the move came with a bump up in title, the ceiling and the room to grow were nowhere near what headquarters offered.

She'd told me right then to think it over again.

Back then all I could think about was being closer to Kathleen.

Now that it came up again, my mind had changed.

"I've thought it over. I'm not going."

"There's one more thing I need to trouble you with."

……

The lock at my front door suddenly turned.

I glanced at the clock on the wall. An hour had passed since I'd gotten home.

I stood up and headed for the living room, ready to sit down and have it out with Kathleen properly.

I'd taken barely a step.

Then Ned's delighted voice cut through the air.

"Wow, Kathleen, your place is gorgeous."