Page 83 of A Real Good Lie

“An apology date. I’m sorry I ran away from you without using my words like an adult, let’s start fresh.”

“Did you come all the way down here to tell me that?” Jace frowned.

“I came down here to check on you.” Remington faced him and reached out, grabbing his shoulder and giving him a squeeze. “You were out of sorts last night, and then he came over, and he was still there this morning. I wanted to make sure you were okay.”

“I’m good.” He let out a sigh. “I think I’m in over my head, but I’ll be fine.”

“Do you want to have dinner tonight?”

“Yeah, but like you said, I should try and do some apologizing?”

“Later this week, then.”

Jace nodded and found himself wrapped up in Remington’s arms. He relaxed against his best friend, resting his cheek against the top of Remington’s head. “This is nice.”

“It’ll be okay.”

Jace nodded and wiggled his shoulders. Remington turned his face and poked Jace with his nose, then stepped back, pulling his book out from underneath his arm and fanning the pages with his thumb.

Remington gave him a look that he couldn’t quite decipher, then turned on his heel and walked down the alley, making a sharp left and disappearing. Jace pulled his phone out of his pocket and debated sending a text, but dialed instead.

“I’m so glad you called,” Callahan answered the phone, sounding a little out of breath.

“Oh?” He chuckled, feeling an embarrassing heat in his cheeks.

“Yeah. I wanted to know when I could see you again.” Callahan exhaled loudly. “Sorry, I was on the treadmill when you called.”

“It’s fine. It’s…That’s why I was calling actually.”

“Oh?” He could hear the smile in Callahan’s voice.

“There’s…I need to talk to you?” Jace tipped his head back and stared up at the sky, aware of how incomprehensible he sounded.

“Is everything okay? If it’s about last night…”

“It’s not,” he interrupted quickly. “I mean, it is, but not bad. I want to do it again. But that’s not what I wanted to talk to you about.”

“It’s hard for me to say that, but you’re making me pretty nervous.”

“I just wanted to apologize. I’d meant to apologize, but I got distracted. You distracted me.” He turned around and smashed his face against the wall until he could feel the rough texture of the bricks embed in his cheeks. He wasn’t being like himself. Jace was calm and collected, he was smooth and sure, and right now on the phone, he wasn’t much more than a bumbling fool.

“Apologize for what?” Callahan asked softly.

“For leaving,” he said. “For…I don’t know. Maybe misjudging you. I hope I’ve misjudged you.”

“I think you were probably right to leave,” Callahan answered back after a brief silence. “I needed you to leave.”

“Oh.”

“It put a lot of things in perspective for me.”

“Oh.”

“In a good way.” Callahan chuckled.

“Okay.” He dragged his cheek across the bricks.

“So, was that your apology?”