56. Cody
Arcade - Duncan Laurence
The second I heard the words ‘Butch Cassidy’ being screeched across the ranch, I knew who was doing the shouting.
Except…
There’s no way that the Tee I’ve been writing to for years and the Tee who’s friends with Colt’s wife are one and the same.
That’s just impossible.
Improbable.
Im-damn-plausible.
Like being killed by a shark in the middle of the Canadian tundra.
Or winning the lottery without a ticket.
Right?
But then I kept an eye on her. I listened. Okay, eavesdropped. And I watched her with Zee. Who has to be the friend ‘Z’ she always talks about.
“This isn’t happening,” I mumble to myself, watching Tee beat Callan in some sort of battle scene in The Witcher.
Yet the impossible, improbable, and implausible is happening.
She’s here.
In my kid brother’s gaming room.
Eating popcorn.
Literally keeping up with Callan, the know-it-all.
In fact, she’s whupping his ass.
And God, is she pretty.
I cut ties with her because I thought she lived in New York and I was making my home in Saskatchewan.
Now, I find out she’s moving into my house.
“Cody! You going to play with us? I have another controller,” Callan calls out.
I shoot him a tight smile that grows tighter when Tee flashes me a look.
Her gaze is piercing.
Direct.
Just like the woman I came to know.
Just like the woman who got me through that fucking mess in Vladivostok without even knowing it.
Just like the woman I didn’t want to say goodbye to but who I wanted to protect.
Regardless of this revelation, nothing’s changed. Not really.
My goodbye will have to stand.
Even if she’s sitting so close to me, I could tangle my fingers in her hair and kiss her like I’ve wanted to for years.
Even though she smells like popcorn and I want to taste it on her tongue.
So many words I left unwritten…
…and I regret each and every one of them.
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