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“I’m sorry. I wasn’t expecting to see you tonight.”

“Should I go? I know I just showed up on you. If you’re not ready to talk, I–”

“No, I’m more than ready,” Kendra interrupted. “For this thing to really start between us. I feel like it’s been there since I moved in next door. We’ve been busy flirting and talking about it but not actually talking about it, and I want to talk about it now, Aspen.”

“Good. So do I. Where do we start?”

“You scare me.”

Aspen’s mouth opened, but she didn’t say anything.

“You scare me in a way no one else ever has,” Kendra added.

“Oh,” Aspen let out, wondering where Kendra could be going with this and hoping that it was good. “Sorry?”

Kendra smiled and said, “Don’t be. It’s a good thing. It’s just a new thing, too.”

“Why do I scare you?”

“When you were in Rio, you asked me to send you a picture of me in a towel.”

“Oh, I remember. I saved that picture to my phone, by the way. I hid it in a folder called ‘budget spreadsheets,’ so no chance anyone I know would look for it there.”

Kendra laughed a little and said, “I took it, and I sent it knowing that you could see this.” She pointed to her chest.

“See what? Your boobs? Trust me, I’d remember if your boobs were in that picture, Kendra Bowie.”

“No, babe. My scar. You could see the top of my scar in the picture, and I still sent it.”

“Oh,” Aspen replied and considered. “I didn’t even notice.”

“You didn’t notice the bumpy, pink line in the middle of my chest sticking out from the towel?”

“No. I noticed your smile, your collarbones, your shoulders. And your neck. You have a long neck. That got a lot of my focus,” Aspen admitted.

Kendra looked down and said, “Then, I sent you that video, and I didn’t even notice that the towel had slipped, and you could see more.”

“I guess I could. Still not seeing the problem here, Kendra.”

“Aspen, I showed you my scar that day on the beach. You brought up what you’d found out about why I had to quit playing, and I pulled my shirt down a little. You saw my scar.”

“Barely.”

“But you saw it. Then, you’re getting me to take pictures in a towel, and I’m sending them to you.”

“I didn’t mean to make you feel like you had to send me something you weren’t comfortable with. It was a joke. I didn’t think you’d go through with it. I’m sorry, Kendra.”

“No, you don’t have to apologize. I sent it because I wanted to, not because I felt pressured to do it, Aspen. That’s sort of the point.”

“Okay,” she said and waited for Kendra to say more.

“Aspen, I don’t let anyone see my scar. I’m not sure anyone but the surgeons and nurses have ever seen the whole thing. Maybe my mom because she helped me recover, but that’s it.”

“No one? I know you didn’t want to talk about it and didn’t want people on the beach to see it.”

“No.” Kendra shook her head. “And yes, that means anyone I’ve been with. My exes. Not that there are all that many, but none of them have seen it.”

“Okay,” Aspen said, not sure why they were talking about this right now. “Was this what you were worried about?”