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She wrinkled her nose and looked at him. “It’s a valid question.”

“Sure.”

She trundled over to the rope, and jumped, reaching up, and there was something different about her movements, something lighter and freer.

She made it farther this time. And then she looked down at him. “I don’t think I’m making it to the top yet.”

“You did amazing.”

“And it’s okay that I didn’t go all the way. And I can get myself down.”

He smiled, but there was something that made him a little bit sad about that.

She didn’t need him to catch her.

But he already knew that.

He was a mess. And it was a documented fact. She was coming into her own while he had basically exited his own, wandering off in the twilight years.

He was sitting in a strange spot.

He couldn’t say that he wanted to go back to where he’d come from, but he didn’t think it was something to aspire to, either.

He was in his retirement, essentially.

And Rory was just beginning everything.

There were only a few years between them, but a wealth of experience. A wealth of life.

It was... It was just so different.

She climbed down and ran toward him, wrapping her arms around his neck.

She kissed him, on the cheek. Like he was the one who had accomplished something amazing when it was her.

“Look at you,” he said. “Fearless.”

“Not quite.”

She put her hands on either side of his face. “But I’m getting there. You inspire me. Your bravery. You make me look at myself and wonder what the hell I’m doing. Why I’m holding on to all these things.”

“I told you, it’s not a trauma-dick-measuring contest.”

“Maybe not. But there is a big difference between fatal and nonfatal fear. To see what you’ve been through, to see you standing there, makes me want to do something more. To be stronger. To just find new strength inside myself.”

“Whatever works.”

“It’s more than that. I...” She looked away from him, and his breath caught. “You’re amazing. That’s all.”

“Come back to my place?”

“Yes.”

Because they wouldn’t stay friends. And this wouldn’t continue on past her leaving.

It couldn’t.

But he would keep being with her while she was here. She was the one he wanted to share all this with.