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“She covers the US tour, so I get used to her being there, but when we go abroad, she’s not, and I want her to be.”

“Didn’t you say she doesn’t really like her job?”

“She does. It’s just not the thing she wanted to do. She landed in it, and it’s worked out. I don’t know if she’ll stay in it forever, though.”

“Why not? She’s good at it. Everyone on tour likes her.”

“How do you know that?”

DJ blushed.

“Let me guess… Mark?”

“He and I…”

“No!” Aspen turned in her window seat to face her. “When?”

“I was going to tell you… But you got worried about me dating, and I didn’t want you to blame me for losing today.”

“Last night?”

“We didn’t sleep together,” DJ said quickly. “He and Chase lost in the quarterfinals, but he knew you and I were still in it, so he just stayed over; we didn’t do anything. I mean, we did stuff, but not that.”

“Stuff? Do I want to know?”

“No, you don’t.” DJ laughed. “But I swear, I was asleep by eleven. And when I woke up, he made me coffee. He’s great, Aspen. I really like him. We’re going out tomorrow night, I think. If not, the night after. I told him no for tonight because I’ll be too tired and need sleep.”

“And you don’t expect to get sleep with him around?” Aspen quirked an eyebrow at her.

“I’m hoping not.” DJ chuckled. “He’s so sweet, and he’s not like Chase at all. Mark doesn’t come from money. He has a second job as an indoor coach at a high school, and his apartment is a small studio. I’ve not been there yet, obviously, but he told me he wanted to make sure that I knew that he wasn’t like Chase in both the good ways and the bad ways. He’s just, like, this down-to-earth guy who likes me.”

“That’s great, DJ,” she said.

“We talked for a few hours last night, and I feel like he wants what I want, you know? A real relationship, with the possibility of it becoming something more.”

“What? Marriage?”

“One day, yeah. You don’t want that?” DJ asked, probably picking up on Aspen’s tone.

“No, I do. But you’ve not even gone out with him yet. I guess you have, or you stayed in, technically, but you’re already talking about all that stuff?”

“Not all of it. And not like we’re going to do it, but just that we both want it. You haven’t talked about it with Kendra yet?”

“We haven’t even been on a date yet.”

“You’re calling each other ‘babe,’ Aspen.”

“I know. And we’re going to talk when I get back. Well, when she gets back now because she’s not home. We both want to pursue whatever this is. She scared me the other day, though.”

“How?”

“She said she had something that she wanted me to know before we go any further and that she wanted to talk about in person. So, we haven’t gotten to it on video, and I’m nervous.”

“What do you think it is? Is she married, separated, working on a divorce or something?”

“No, she’s not. But…” Aspen wanted to talk to her friend about what she thought it might be related to, but she couldn’t because that was Kendra’s story to tell. “I’m just worried. She acts like she wants us, and not like whatever it is will be the end of the world, but I don’t know.”

“I’m sure it’ll be fine,” DJ said.