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Every fiber of my being is itching to start a fight with him, but I resist and keep on smiling. “And I’m trying to have a date night with you. Couples usually use this time to talk and catch up with life.”

“Don’t be a petulant child.” He, surprisingly, puts his phone down to give me his full attention. “What is it you want to tell me?”

I’m more used to his condescending remarks than I should be, but they still sting. He uses them all the time, almost like they’re his love language. Every time he says one, I hear the old cliché about how if a boy is mean to you, it’s because he likes you. Will obviously likes me. We’ve been together for two years, but I was hoping he’d eventually stop talking to me this way.

“Thomas has given me a new project to oversee,” I explain, turning the temperature down on the chicken. “And it’s a big one this time. It’ll take several months.”

Now I have his undivided attention. “Yeah? What is it?”

“A natatorium.” The word, which I didn’t even know existed until a couple of weeks ago, still feels weird on my tongue, making it painfully obvious I don’t know what I’m talking about. “You used to swim in college, right?”

“I had a scholarship.” He shrugs like it’s no big deal. Which is fine, because maybe it’s not a big deal to get a scholarship for swimming. I don’t know anything about the sport. It’s not something Will keeps up with, at least not to my knowledge, and I only found out about it because I came across a medal while cleaning. “Who’s the design lead on the project?”

“Liam.” The scowl is back, and I sigh. “I don’t understand what your problem with him is. He’s only ever been nice to you and he’s literally the only decent guy I work with.”

“He’s too invested in you and hasn’t gotten the hint to back off.”

The notion that Will feels threatened by Liam is laughable to me. Especially because he’s clearly into Nadine, if he can get his foot out of his mouth and make it up to her.

“That’s ridiculous. He’s not into me or anything like that, trust me. We work together, and we do it well. He’ll finish the design aspect and I’ll be in Columbia to oversee the project.”

“How long will you be in Columbia?”

“They gave us seven months, but we’d ideally like it to be six,” I say.

“You’ll be building as the Olympics are happening?” Will asks. I shrug because I guess. I’m not even sure when the Olympics are. I just know they’re sometime soon. “Do you know who’s opening the natatorium? They must not be competing now.”

“Apparently they’re both Olympians,” I explain, flipping one of the chicken breasts in the pan. “One of them, Bryce, is retired. The other one, Carter, is going to Paris, or something.”

“It won’t be guaranteed until June.” I’m not sure what Will means by that, exactly, but he’s interested in what I’m saying now. “Are you talking about Bryce Clark and Carter Abrams?”

My jaw drops open. Do all swimmers know each other? “Wait, are you friends with Olympians?”

He rolls his eyes like I’d asked something ridiculous. Who knows? Maybe I did. “That’s not how it works, Katrina. We’re not friends. I swam against them in college. So, our paths crossed that way.”

“Do you not like them? I haven’t met them yet. Are they nice?” I was suddenly desperate to know something, anything, about the people I’d be working with for half a year. “Liam says they’re cool, and they’ve seemed nice—”

“I don’t know, Katrina!” he snaps, jaw clenched. “I haven’t seen them in eight years, and we never talked. We were rivals.”

I know better than to keep pestering him, I do, but this is a side of Will I’ve never seen. The snark and annoyance, yes, but not the side that’s willingly talking about swimming. Something he’s always seemed a little embarrassed to be part of. “Come on, Will, there has to be something you can tell me.”

“They’re jocks, Katrina.” He rolls his eyes. “They never had a plan to be anything but a professional athlete, no drive to make anything more of themselves. It looks like they accomplished that, but I’m sure they’re as shallow as they’ve always been. I’m going to take a shower now.”

He’s out of his chair so quickly I barely have time to register what he says before he’s already heading toward the bathroom. I glance down at the chicken that’s done. “But dinner is literally done, Will.”

“I’ll eat when I’m done,” he calls back. “Don’t wait for me.”

Something in me crumbles as I hear the door shut behind him. Looking over at the table I’d set up, I realize it was, once again, for nothing. It doesn’t matter how hard I try to rekindle whatever flame we once had, he would be there to blow it out. Date night means nothing more to him than a chance to have someone else feed him. There’s no connection anymore and I’m not sure how to get it back.

Maybe this project in Columbia came at the perfect time. This time—and distance—apart might be good for us. It could be what we need to save our relationship.

IarriveinColumbiaon the twenty-sixth of December, which gives me more than enough time to get settled in my rental before we break ground on January second. I’m meeting with Bryce and Carter on the twenty-ninth to go over the schedule and do the walkthrough with the two of them from a contractor’s perspective. Everything I would normally do during this free time has already been done. The demo crew is going to be on-site bright and early on the second. I’ve triple checked with all my subcontractors for the first phase, and I have Liam’s plans memorized, complete with areas I worry we might run into trouble.

Which means I have a few of days to relax.

My rental is a cute little townhome, not too far from the pool, and I’m instantly pulled into the quaintness of it. Unsurprisingly, it’s much bigger than anything I would need. I knew Nadine would find me a nice place, complete with a room for Liam should he need to be on-site for anything. I’m going to be more than comfortable for the next several months.

Hell, there might even be a part of me that never wants to leave.