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You’re still funny.

Yeah, imagine that.

There was a pause and I yawned. I needed to wrap this up, but this conversation was so strange, I didn’t know how to follow the normal protocol for ending one. Echo did it for me.

Thanks for listening, Kiri Kentwood. You’re still good at that too.

You’re still good at being hot.I replied before I could think better of it.

She sent the laugh-crying emoji.Thanks for the compliment.

And?

And what?

And you’re supposed to say that I’m still good at being hot.I hadn’t talked with anyone like this in so long, but I fell back into it with Echo with surprising ease.

You know you’re hot, Kiri. You don’t need me to tell you that.

She was right, I didn’t, but it was nice to be validated sometimes.

Goodnight, Kiri

I sent the sleepy emoji.Night Echo.

Nine

“Idid something badagain,” I said, and it was déjà vu with Dom in his office, the only exception that today I’d brought him a latte instead of a smoothie.

“You are giving me gray hairs,” he said, his head in his hands. “What is it now?”

“I talked to her, and it was weird, but okay. I mean, she was honest and open and it kind of freaked me out, but I think we can be cordial now, for some reason. Like we needed to do that to move on.” At least, that was the situation I was hoping for.

“I mean, that’s good, right? So it wasn’t a bad decision.” He stood up and we walked together into the gym. “To be honest, I’ll be glad when this season is over. I’m ready to do dad things and prepare for next season. I havelotsof theme ideas.” His eyes went so wide that I took a step away from him.

“Dom, you’re scaring me. What do you have in mind?” I had heard tons of his theme ideas and some of them were great, and some of them were not so great. It was about fifty-fifty so far.