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The campus is almost deserted this close to the semester’s end. I spot Jules sitting on a bench, shivering like one of those tiny, high-strung dogs despite her parka and all the layers she’s wearing beneath it. She walks around to the passenger side and slides in.

“Hi.” She leans across the center console for a kiss. I am more than happy to oblige her.

As she buckles her seatbelt I ask, “Why didn’t you wait inside, you adorable crazy person? I know you’re cold, it’s below sixty.” I roll up the windows and blast the heat, then take off toward the airport.

“I just spent two hours in a stuffy room taking an exam. I needed some fresh air.”

“Speaking of which, congrats! Last exam of your college career. How do you feel?”

“I don’t know. Scared, like life starts right this second and I’m completely unprepared for it. I don’t have a job lined up yet and I’m…” She drops her words in favor of a sigh.

I know she’s stressing about the future, even though she doesn’t need to work any more than I do. Everything in her father’s warehouse was seized by the ATF, but they couldn’t touch her parents’ house and couldn’t find all of her dad’s money. It’s about outrunning our legacies and making new ones for ourselves. I scoop up her hand and kiss the back of it.

“Well, I am wicked proud of you. And you should be proud of yourself. Let’s worry about the rest when we get back from Boston, okay? I’m actually kind of excited to have a real Christmas, with a tree and twinkly lights and presents.” All that stopped when my mom passed away.

“I told my mom how much you like Christmas and how shitty your dad always was about it, so she had the entire house decorated by a professional for you.”

That’s sweet but kind of excessive. “What?”

“Yeah.”

“She paid someone to put up a tree and string lights. That’s a thing? Like, an actual profession?”

“Apparently. My dad, Teague, and I used to do it until I went away for school, then it was Dad and Teague’s thing.” A subtle frown makes itself at home on her face. I forget sometimes that she had happy moments with her father. Moments when he was Patrick Calloway, regular dad and uncle who loved his daughter and nephew.

“Do you want to visit Teague while we’re home?”

She’s not ready to admit it, but she misses him. After months of working on “forgiveness and creating healthy boundaries” in therapy, she’s started taking his phone calls. That’s pretty significant.

“No,” she says firmly. “Orange isn’t his color.”

Unfortunate, since he’s going to be wearing it exclusively for the next ten years. His new home is the Federal Correctional Institution in beautiful downtown Berlin, New Hampshire. I do feel bad about that, considering I should be locked up, too. I got lucky. He didn’t. I remind myself that he’s better off inside than out. He has three hots, a cot, and he’s enrolled in college classes. He might take something positive away from his incarceration that he wouldn’t have bothered trying for otherwise.

“Thought I’d pitch the idea, is all.”

“It was a wild pitch, darling.” She throws a glance over her shoulder to the back seat for dramatic effect. “Oh wow, you managed to fit all the stuff in the trunk. I’m impressed.”

“I’m good at packing. It’s like real-life Tetris. I still don’t see why you felt the need to bring half your wardrobe for a two-week trip.”

“We have four different holiday parties to attend, and Rose’s is the event of the season. You can’t expect me to plan an outfit for each one so far in advance. Anyway, it’s very sexy that you’re so efficient. Look at all that space back there!” She chortles, then bites her lip. “I have an idea. We’ve got three hours before our flight. Want to find a place to park and have a semi-public quickie for old times’ sake?”

Hell yes, I do. I love having an apartment with a huge, comfortable bed for us to have sex in, but it’s called a “kink” for a reason. “We’re coming up on the Arboretum. I do believe that would be a very nice place to park.”

“Did you pack your strap-on? I’m in the mood.”

“Who are you talking to right now? I even made sure it was easily accessible.”

There’s that devilish grin she wears so well. She takes my hand from the gearshift and glides her fingers into the spaces between mine. “Let’s go.”

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