Page 99 of ClickBack

“Yes. I keep that with me because I’m an adult.”

“I can see that.”

“You packed.” She has spotted my duffel as Graves gets it from the back.

“I knew where we were going.”

She gives me a look that makes me laugh, but I stay beside her instead of leading her toward the door.

“You good with this?” I ask. “We haven’t gone anywhere yet.”

She looks at the plane again. Then she takes my hand.

“I’m going to Atlanta. Before I regain financial sense.”

Inside, Graves settles up front with his headphones and laptop. I sit across from Giselle while she inspects the lunch arranged for us. She chooses a sandwich, takes a bite, and looks at the rest of the tray.

“You ordered enough for six people.”

“Graves hasn’t eaten.”

“I heard that,” he says without turning around.

Once we’re in the air, she moves beside me. She says she dislikes facing backward on a plane. I suspect she has other reasons, but I take the explanation and put my arm along the back of her seat. She finishes lunch with one shoe off and her foot tucked beneath her.

“Di wants video,” she tells me.

“Of what?”

“You skating.”

“She hasn’t even seen me skate.”

“That’s the attraction.”

I look toward Graves. “You hear what I’m dealing with?”

He taps his headphones without lifting his eyes.

Giselle laughs and rests against my arm. A patch of sun falls across her bare knee. I slide my hand over it, and she watches me do it without moving away.

Later, she asks why I changed my number before we met. I tell her the old one had become a list of people I no longer wanted to hear from, with a few exceptions I actually did. During the playoff push, I had run out of patience for sorting through it.

“And the quiet suited you?” she asks.

“More than I expected.”

“Even without company?”

“I had company. Graves practically lives with me.”

“You know what I mean.” She smiles. “A few months must be a record in your line of work.”

“Come on, Zel.”

Her smile changes. “I’m teasing.”

“I can go a few months without sleeping with somebody. Playing basketball doesn’t make that some incredible feat.”