Page 165 of Payoff Pitch

What?

“Oookay. If that’s what you want. I’m happy to talk about itwhenever you’re ready. I need you to be okay with it before I move forward. I need your support. I can’t have the two people I love the most playing tug-of-war over me. I want us all on the same page.”

She nods. “Just give me time to process. I want to react…appropriately.”

She’s legitimately the knee-jerk-reaction queen of the world, but if this is the first time in her life she wants to take a step back and process, I’ll certainly let her do so.

She starts to leave, but I stop her. “Hey, Kam?”

She turns her head back and answers, “Yeah?”

“Thanks for being here with me the past few months. I couldn’t have gotten through it without you.”

Tears fill her eyes, and she walks over and hugs me. “It’s been an honor. You’ve taken care of me for thirty years. It was about time I returned the favor. I love you, Bailey, more than anything in the world. I truly want you to be happy. You deserve it.”

“I love you too. And I want you to be happy too. That’s why I want you to go home and get back to your real life. You probably miss sex.”

She scoffs. “I’ve been having sex. I might be a goodsister, but I’m not a nun.”

I giggle. “That was a good one.”

She squeezes my arm. “Don’t make any rash decisions about your life until we’ve talked, okay?”

I feel like she’s speaking in code. “Umm, okay.”

She leaves, and, as I’m getting dressed, Tanner walks back in with pain written all over his face. “I’m sorry about that. He’s…umm…not a good guy. Never has been.”

I shake my head. “I don’t care from my perspective; I just didn’t like the way he talked to Harper.”

He sighs. “Neither did I. It doesn’t make the way he talked to you remotely acceptable. I’m truly sorry you had to endure that.”

He sits on my bed looking a little distraught.

I’m seated next to him, rubbing his back. “Are youokay?”

He shakes his head. “Even though I want to wring her neck at times, you’re lucky to have Kamryn. I’ve grown to envy your relationship with her. So much so that I was planning to reach out to Linc to see if we could rebuild our relationship. When he showed up at the door, I allowed myself a moment of hope that we could turn things around, but I see now that it will never happen. He’s not a good guy and no amount of optimism will ever change that.”

I lean my head on his shoulder. “I’m so sorry. It can’t be easy.”

“It’s not. You’re so fortunate to have someone you inherently trust. Someone you know willalwaysbe there for you.”

I want to reassure him that I can be that for him forever if he wants, but I want to wait to talk to Kam more about it. She asked me to wait, and I want to give her that. I need her support. I hate seeing him like this though. It makes me sick to my stomach. In fact, I’m actually getting sick to my stomach.

I sprint toward the bathroom, fall on my knees in front of the toilet, and puke up everything I’ve eaten today. Where did that come from? I hope I’m not coming down with something.

Tanner is suddenly there holding my hair, rubbing my back. “Are you okay?”

I nod. “Sorry. That came out of nowhere.”

“Why don’t you get into bed? You may have overdone it today. I’ll order dinner.”

He’s right. I’m exhausted. I did a lot today. Getting into bed suddenly sounds like the best plan ever.

TANNER

I order Chinese food and extra soup for Bailey. When I call everyone to dinner, Kamryn asks where Bailey is.

I answer, “She wasn’t feeling great. I think she did too much today. She’s in bed.”