She flinched at the unexpected use of her nickname. It was a forcible reminder that Chad knew Tully, too.

“Sit down,” Tully said. “I’ll go get a waitress.” She was on her feet and gone before Kate could stop her.

Kate looked at Chad; he eyed her back, smiling as if at some secret. “This is an interesting place,” she said to make conversation.

“It’s like a tavern without beer,” he said. “The kind of place where you can change who you are.”

“I thought change started from within.”

“Sometimes. Sometimes it’s forced upon you.”

His words caused something to darken his eyes, an emotion of some kind. She was reminded of his backstory suddenly, the bright career he’d lost. “They’d fire you—the university—if they found out about you and Tully, wouldn’t they?”

He drew his leg back, sat up straighter. “So that’s how you want to play it. Good. I like direct. Yes. I’d lose this career, too.”

“Are you some kind of risk junkie?”

“No.”

“Have you slept with your students before?”

He laughed. “Hardly.”

“So, why?”

He glanced sideways, at Tully, who was at the crowded coffee bar, trying to order. “You, of all people, shouldn’t have to ask that. Why is she your best friend?”

“She’s special.”

“Indeed.”

“But what about her career? She’d be ruined if word got out that she was with you. They’d say she slept her way to a degree.”

“Good for you, Katie. You should be looking out for her. She needs that. She’s . . . fragile, our Tully.”

Kate didn’t know which upset her more—his description of Tully as fragile or the way he said our Tully. “She’s a steamroller. I don’t call her Tropical Storm Tully for nothing.”

“That’s on the outside. For show.”

Kate sat back, surprised. “You actually care about her.”

“More’s the pity, I imagine. What will you tell her?”

“About what?”

“You came here to find a way to convince her not to see me anymore, didn’t you? You can certainly say I’m too old. Or the prof angle is always a winner. Just so you know, I drink too much, too.”

“You want me to tell her those things?”

He looked at her. “No. I don’t want you to tell her those things.”