Gunnar watched him take a gulp and then shook his head. “I’m going to need all my senses to pull off this paper.”

Kirby patted his knee.

“I don’t miss college,” Taylor said. “At all.”

“I like school,” Gunnar said, gesturing toward Kirby. “I don’t like being away from her.”

Kirby hugged his arm. “Just keep kicking ass, and we’ll be in Denver in no time.”

Taylor’s eyebrows shot up. “You’re moving there together?”

Gunnar looked both proud and excited. “I’ve just got to get some money saved up and find a place once I transfer.”

“Gunnar’s applying for the physician’s assistant program,” I said.

“Oh, yeah? That’s fucking awesome, man. Good for you.” Taylor held up his beer again, as a toast this time. He looked to me. “What are Phaedra and Chuck going to do when they lose you both?”

Kirby and I traded glances.

“What?” Taylor asked.

“Have you had any luck applying here?” Kirby asked.

“Nope,” Taylor said. “But I’m solid at the station in Estes.”

“But don’t you live with your brother?” she asked.

Taylor set his beer down on a coaster even though the coffee table was scratched and already covered in water rings. “Okay. You two have been discussing. Let’s hear it.”

I squirmed. “It’s just that … it feels wrong to leave Phaedra high and dry after all she’s done for me. And I’m not sure I’d like your brother as a roommate. I don’t really want to ask him to move out, and we have a perfectly good place here. I can save more if I stay here.”

“That’s not true. I told you I’d take care of rent.”

“And I told you it was fifty-fifty or nothing.”

“I’m here, maybe, five months out of the year,” he said.

“Until you get hired on here.”

“They’re not hiring, baby. I’ve asked—a lot.”

“Not yet,” I said, pointing at him.

He looked at Kirby and then back at me. “So, what do you propose? I keep up the commute until I’m hired on here? Or that I move here without a job?”

I winced. I knew suggesting either would be an insult. “If I move to Estes Park, you’ll be here in the Springs or somewhere else for up to half the year.”

“I told you. I have a full-time position at the local station if I want it.”

“I can’t leave Phaedra and Chuck, not right now. Kirby is leaving soon …”

Taylor blew out a breath, looking away from me. “I don’t want to keep doing this. I hate seeing you only on the weekends.”

“Should we go?” Gunnar asked.

We both ignored him.

“So, we’re at an impasse,” I said.

“And what the hell does that mean?” Taylor was more frustrated than angry.