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“I’m touched by your concern, but it’s none of your concern,” I say to Ronan. “Dan and I are going out tonight, and we’re going to have a wonderful time.”

After grabbing his coffee, he collapses on the only free chair next to Bryce, raising his mug toward me in a salute. “I’ll be sure to remind everyone those were your last words.”

Bryce doesn’t even try to hide his laughter, but does manage to catch the pair of goggles I throw at him. Which is honestly impressive for him.

I turn my focus back to Josie. “Why do we even have those up here?”

“Who knows.” She shrugs. “Now, show me pictures again!”

Bryce groans as I grab my phone from where it’s sitting on the couch to open up the app. I’m willing to take almost any distraction to keep Ronan from commenting on my love life.

The door swings open before I can even raise my arm to knock, revealing Bryce. “Hey, how was your date?”

Too exhausted to even utter a comeback, I raise my eyebrows, and give a little shrug. Thankfully, he takes my non-answer as an answer and steps aside to let me in.

Bryce and Josie’s home envelopes me in its warm and cozy arms. I kick my shoes off to leave them with the rest crowded by the door, letting my purse fall with a gentle thud, and follow Bryce deeper into the house. In the living room, Carter and Ronan are watching a meet on low volume while Josie and Kat sit off to the side, talking about something. I can tell Josie’s only somewhat paying attention, though, with the way her gaze keeps flickering over to the TV. The room smells like homemade brownies, which I know has to be Bryce’s doing because I haven’t brought anything over in weeks and baking is not Josie’s strong suit.

When I spot the plate of said brownies on the table between Josie and Kat, I make a beeline toward it. I can feel the way each of my friends follows me with their eyes; concern seeped into their gazes. It’s not often I allow myself to shut down like this in front of the group. This privilege is usually only reserved for Josie.

And my best friend is watching me with a steady gaze as I take a bite of brownie. I fight to let out a moan when the rich chocolate taste hits my tongue. I really wish I’d grabbed food before going on the date. “If you want to change, I laid some comfy clothes out on my bed for you.”

The best thing about friends with similar body types to yours are moments like this. While Josie is a bit shorter than me and a tadsmaller in certain areas, she loves her comfy clothes to be a size bigger for ultimate relaxation. And she knows me well enough to know if I made it over after the date, I wouldn’t want to stay in the same outfit.

“Go change.” She nods toward the stairs. “And then when you come back, you better tell me what happened tonight.”

She left no room for any argument, so I shuffle upstairs and down the hall to the main bedroom. Just like with everything in the house, I instantly see my best friend’s influence in the warm, cozy space. Despite living in South Carolina for over a year, she still hasn’t been able to shake her Midwest roots. A thick, fuzzy blanket is draped across the edge of the bed and the bedside lamp is casting a warm glow.

I snag the sweatpants and T-shirt off the edge of the bed and duck into the bathroom to change. My smile only grows when I see makeup remover, a reusable cotton pad, hairbrush, and scrunchie on the counter. Bryce might be the love of her life, but she’s my person just as much as I am hers.

About ten minutes later, I head back downstairs while pulling my hair up. In the living room, the boys are discussing the merits of some new training topic, with Ronan in the middle of a heated argument as to why it’s a horrible idea. As I round the corner to head back to the girls, he trails off mid-sentence, his gaze clocking my every move.

It’s been years since he’s seen me this dressed down. The way his eyes rove over my body sends a little thrill up my spine. But I can’t focus on that. Instead, I tell them, “It has inconsistent results, and a lot of swimmers have openly spoken out against it. I’m with Ronan on this one.”

I don’t miss the way surprise overtakes his features, but he quickly recovers with a triumphant smile. “Thank you, Mia!”

Josie appears out of nowhere, handing me a generous glass of wine. “Enough talk about work. I want to hear about what happened on Mia’s date.”

Groaning, I collapse into the only free chair, which gives me the perfect view to watch Ronan tense up. I’m suddenly aware that the two of us are the only single people in this room.

When he sees me looking at him, he clears his throat. “You really went on a date with someone who's pet could kill you?"

"Yes," I huff out. Did he think I made the whole thing up? No one could make up someone like Dan. "It's therapy mandated. She thinks I need to put myself out there more."

“Which is why you don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”

Who would have thought Bryce would be the one coming to my rescue? I don’t mind talking about this one, though. It wasn’t awful in the sense he’s thinking, just an immature frat boy who missed the realization that it’s time to be an adult.

“All he could talk about was his chicken.”

All my friends blink at me in the same confused way I’d felt the first time Dan brought it up.

Carter’s the first one to crack. “Like a pet chicken or…chicken, chicken?”

“Not a pet.” I sigh. “Chicken he was cooking.”

“I thought you went out to dinner?” Josie joined in, worry knitting her brows together. “I can’t stop you from meeting these people at their houses, Mia, but I wish you’d tell one of us ahead of time if that’s what’s happening.”

Josie and I share our locations with each other because, well, we’re women in America who aren’t stupid. Still, I know what she means about wanting a general idea of where I am. You can’t really watchfor anything strange if you don’t think there’s anything strange to watch out for.