Chapter 287
The restaurant’s warm, crowded, buzzing with voices and the clatter of chopsticks. The host barely greets us before Mila and Penny break into laughter beside me.
They’re still going on about some inside joke that involves a headband, a pigeon, and a security guard at the studio. I
don’t ask.
Penny grabs Mila’s wrist, eyes still sparkling. “We’ll be right back. Bathroom.”
Mila winks over her shoulder at me. “Try not to miss us too much.”
Penny gives me a soft smile. That one that always lingers, even when she’s already walking away. My gaze follows her until
she disappears around the corner with Mila, both still giggling.
I scan the restaurant until I spot him.
Boomer’s already here, sitting at a table tucked near the back. He’s fiddling with the sleeve of his hoodie, a menu open in
front of him but untouched. He sees me coming and straightens up, a polite grin slipping onto his face.
I walk over, sliding into the seat across from him.
“Hey,” he says, lifting his chin in that casual way of his. “Didn’t know if you’d beat traffic.”
“Left early,” I reply. “Didn’t want to wait another second.”
He nods like he understands, because he probably does.
There’s a pause while a waiter drops off a couple glasses of water and asks if we want anything to drink. I wave him off,
Boomer orders a soda, then it’s just us.
“So,” he says, tapping the table lightly. “It’s true?”
I raise a brow. “Is what true?”
“That you’re heading up that new project at base. The one for black ops protocol testing?”
I smirk. “Guess the rumors travel fast.”
He grins. “Faster than classified memos. Congrats, man. That’s a huge deal.”
“Thanks,” I say, rolling my shoulder. “Still feels weird. Bittersweet, you know?”
Boomer’s smile fades just a notch. “Yeah. I get that.”
I glance over toward the hallway where the girls disappeared. Still not back. Good.
I clear my throat. “Listen. I wanted to thank you in person.”
Boomer straightens again. His shoulders square, just a bit.
“I put you in a position I don’t think was fair,” I say quietly. “I needed Penny safe. You were the only person I trusted enough to leave her with. But it wasn’t easy. For either of you.”
He looks down at the table. “Wasn’t a big deal.”
“It was,” I say, voice firmer now. “She was scared out of her mind. And I wasn’t there. You were.”
He swallows hard. “I just did what anyone would’ve.”
“No,” I say, “You did what I would’ve. And that’s different.”
Boomer meets my eyes finally. There’s a beat between us. That wordless place where gratitude and unspoken truths sit
next to each other like knives and silk.
I can see something flicker in his expression. Regret, maybe. Frustration. Something closer to hurt. But he doesn’t let it
land.
“You don’t owe me anything,” he says. “I was glad to be there for her.”
I nod slowly. “Still. I do.”
We sit in silence for a second, both nursing our drinks, both pretending we don’t notice what’s being left unsaid.
He shifts in his seat, trying for a grin. “She texted me, by the way. Said she misses hanging out.”
“She told me,” I say, watching him carefully. “You were good to her.”
“Yeah,” he says, looking down again. “She’s…easy to be good to.”
I don’t respond. I don’t have to.
He knows exactly what I mean when I don’t press further.
And I know exactly what he means when he doesn’t say the thing I’m thankful he’s not saying out loud.
She’s mine.
Chapter 287
He knows it.
Still hurts, though.
And maybe that’s the part I owe him for the most.
The girls come back a minute later, laughter already bubbling between them again.
Boomer smiles at Penny when she slides into the seat beside me. He smiles like he always does. Like it doesn’t sting. Like
he’s happy just to be part of her universe, even if he’s not the center of it.
