“No. Well, yes. But, jeez, you’re dense. That’s not what I’m talking about. So, listen closely because I’m only going to lay this out once. Nice and clear.” Richie clicked that pen again, faster this time. “All these people, including myself, think that you and she make sense together, John. When they ask if you’re together, what they’re really asking is Why not? Because they look at you and they think, Yup, there are two people who could really make a go of it.”

John stared at Richie. His friend was rarely this fired up outside of a courtroom. And apparently he wasn’t finished. Richie barreled on. “I truly think that you might be the only person on earth who looks at the two of you and thinks you’re not good enough for her. People aren’t thinking about you having to save money to take her out to a fancy birthday dinner. They aren’t imagining her in her Tom Ford shoes avoiding the loose nails in the floor of your tiny apartment. They aren’t wondering why in God’s name she would slum it with you. You’re the only one who asks those questions.”

John marveled inwardly at how well his best friend knew him. He opened his mouth to speak, but Richie kept going. “The rest of the world looks at you and thinks, Look at those two bighearted, kind, hardworking people. Don’t they make a handsome couple? So, why in God’s name can’t you see it, John? Why? You’re the only one left fighting this thing when you’re the one who actually wants to be with her. And don’t deny it, John. I’ve seen it on your grumpy-ass face. You look at Mary like all the light in the world originates from her. Stop telling yourself you can’t have her. Just stop it already.”

John just stared at Richie.

Richie glared back.

“Wow,” John eventually said. “I was gonna wait until she got back from Connecticut. But... I guess I’ll go call her?”

“Good.” Richie nodded his head, swiveled back to his desk and made several decisive swipes with his pen on whatever paper was in front of him.

John stepped out into the hallway and strode all the way down to the window at the end of the hall. Brooklyn sprawled out a few floors below. He watched people scurrying from place to place, guzzling water and trying to stay out of the blazingly direct sunlight.

“Hi,” Mary answered on the first ring.

“Hi,” he answered slowly, partly because his stomach was swooping and partly because she sounded different than she normally did. “I was going to wait to call you until you got back to Brooklyn. I didn’t want to interrupt your family time—”

“You’re not interrupting. I came home yesterday. Unexpectedly.”

He frowned. She sounded dull. Hurt. “Is everything all right?”