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Now or never, Honor

"You asleep?" she whispered

"Nope Just letting you ogle rin

She smiled back "And I appreciate it" She licked her lips, knees tingling with adrenaline "So"

"So" He reached up and tucked a piece of hair behind her ear It was all the encourageht the other day?" she asked Her toes curled, but she kept her voice casual

"What?"

"I was thinking we should get married"

There She said it Suddenly, it was hard to breathe nor "Man, that flight is catching up with me" Then he looked back at her "Oh Uh, are you serious?"

Play it easy here, her brain advised "Well, yeah I ht"

He stared at her, then his eyebrows jumped in bewilderment "Really?"

His voice did not indicate that he’d just heard a wonderful idea It indicatedbaffleood friends Really good friends" Oh, youch Stop talking You sound like an idiot "You knoe’ve been friends for ages now Long tiue felt like a piece of old leather, and wasn’t that an attractive ie! Would you like to kiss an? Because the years are precious, you know Egg-wise

She forced out an aard laugh, then wished she hadn’t "Just putting that out there It’s been, what? Seventeen years that we’ve been together?"

"Together?" he said, sitting up abruptly

"Uh, sort of We always, uainst the leather-upholstered headboard Tears stung her eyes, and she immediately ordered theood friends And then there’s this Sex"

"Yeah! Right No, we’re great friends Definitely I think of you as an took a deep breath "I never really saw us as together per se" He sed and, to his credit, looked at her

Cal to a certain age, and you said you were cutting back on traveling" She paused "And neither one of us has ever found so"

Please say you agree Please realize what a great idea this is

He didn’t answer, but his eyes were kind Horribly so, and that was answer enough Her heart stuttered, then shriveled like burned paper To avoid looking at hi in the comforter Now that the initial rejection was done, she could keep it together She was a rational, cal a heart attack She kind of hoped she was

Brogan was quiet for a minute "You kno I think about you, On?" He turned to see her face "I think of you like an old baseball glove"

She blinked Was he kidding? A sports analogy? Granted, he was full of the you turn to when you need it"

"A baseball glove" Could she smother him with the pillow, maybe, or did that only work in the ulation? Too bad she hadn’t worn any

He took her hand and squeezed it, and she let it lie there like a dead fish "It’s like Jeter once said Or maybe it was Pujols Yeah, because this was back when he played in Saint Louis Wait, was it Joe Maurer? No, because he’s a catcher, so that’d be aabout hohen he’s in a sluaht? And when he puts it on, it’s like an old friend, and he knows he’ll have a better day because of it" He turned to her, tipping her chin up, and she blinked, her eyes feeling like two hot, hard stones "But you don’t need that glove every day"

Surely this was the worst breakup speech in history

He winced "Okay, that was the worst coh then, because it was that or burst into tears "What I’ to say, On, is--"

"You knohat?" she said, and her voice was noret it I don’t knohere the idea came frorinned

"But you’re right," she said ?"

"Exactly," he said "Because we are a good thing Don’t you think?"

"Absolutely No, no, getting ht Never mind"

He kissed her then, and it nearly tore her heart in half An old baseball glove? Holy fungus Yet her head was cupped between his hands, and she was letting hied at all

"Feel up for round two?" he whispered

Are you kidding? You just co

"Sure," she said Because nothing had changed She was the saht realize she’d been dead serious, and if he knew that, then she wouldn’t have any pride left And since her heart had just been poleaxed, pride was suddenly very important

SHE APPEARED AT Dana’s door an hour later, and the second she knocked, tearsdown her face in hot streaks

Dana opened the door, took one look and blinked An odd expression--half surprise, half souess I can see how that turned out," she said after a beat "I’ot a clean pair of pajaed, then washed her face in the sloppy, co bathroo against the doorway "I think drinks are called for, don’t you?"

Shemartinis and handed Honor a box of Kleenex Shark Week, a shared passion of theirs, played in the background So

"I feel like such an ass," Honor said when she’d finished recounting the wretched evening "And the thing is, I didn’t kno much I loved him till it was out there, you know? Does that make sense?"

"Sure, sure it does" Dana drained her drink "Listen, I hate to be insensitive here, but tell me the part about the parents one rin, and Honor snorted and co Dana swear she’d never tell anyone, because as a hairdresser, Dana saw everyone, and knew everyone’s business, and was pretty liberal with sharing it

"Co a little far, isn’t it?"

"It wasn’telse Oh, look at that guy’s stitches I’ainst her raincoat Stupid raincoat Where was the shock and a, huh? Wadding it up, she tossed it on the floor