That was a backhanded compliment if ever there was one, and Angela responded appropriately. “Thank you, Leo,” she said. “But you’re an asshole.” Then she grabbed her purse from me and stormed out, leaving Leo and me in a standoff.

“Leo—”

“Just shut up, okay, because nothing you say is gonna help your case.”

But I couldn’t just leave it there. Even if every word dug me a deeper grave, I had to say something. “Leo . . . if I could undo it, I would.”

He shifted his shoulders. Not a shrug—more like an uncomfortable rolling, like you do when you feel a fever coming on. “I’ll live with it,” he said. “I have been living with it.”

“I wouldn’t blame you if you hate me.”

His expression didn’t soften. He held the same hard gaze. “Did it go beyond that one time?”

“No,” I told him. “It didn’t.”

He nodded. “That’s what I thought.” I felt the tension ease, but only the slightest bit. “She had a crush on you for years; you know that, don’t you? The way I see it, she got it out of her system. Turns out she wasn’t all that into you. She was just Ash-curious, and now she’s not anymore. She can move on.”

I still didn’t feel that I deserved to be let off the hook, but both Leo and Angela were bigger than that.

“If you had broken her heart, or hurt her in any way, that’d be different,” he said. “I’d have ripped you a new one. And if it had gone the other way, and you ended up as a couple? Yeah, I think I’d be okay with that, because at least I know you’d treat her right.”

“I would, Leo. You know I would.”

“But I’ve got to be honest, seeing you all contrite and miserable like this gives me the warm fuzzies.” Then he rapped me in the arm just lightly enough to be friendly, but just hard enough to hurt. “So go suffer some more, and I’ll see you Monday.”

5

Exit Strategy

I used to have an issue with heights, so I did what I always do when faced with a challenge. I beat it. We were on vacation years ago, in what must have been the rich-me world, because it was at a fancy resort that we could never afford where I used to come from. So on this vacation, there was a zip line between the two hotel towers. It was the absolute last, most horrifying thing I could ever imagine doing. So I signed up for it, and, as they say, broke my foot off in fear’s ass.