“I’m as okay as I can be. You know how it goes.” She takes a sip of her drink before meeting my eyes again. “I’ll never be normal but I’m okay with that.” Silence falls between us. I wish her answer was different, that she could stand here and tell me that she is the strongest she has ever been, that some magical drug has stripped away her pain. It isn’t realistic, but Ellis deserves one day without pain, without having to suffer so much.

“So… You’re a mom?” I lean in to ask her after a moment of charged silence. I know the answer but I want to ask her about her son. Maybe ask about his dad.

“I am. He is the best thing I’ve done. Even if I hardly ever get a night off, he’s worth it.” Her face splits into a breath-taking grin. She has always been beautiful, but in the low light of the bar her smile shines all the way to her eyes. I’m speechless as I look at her glow.

“Fuck Sunshine, how do you still do that?”

“Do what?” She rolls her eyes. It reminds me of all the times she rolled her eyes at me years ago. My heart lurches and my blood heats thinking about what that sassy attitude lead to when we were younger.

“Make the world stop spinning.” I shake my head. How after all these years apart she still manages to break me into pieces is lost on me, but I don’t care. I also don’t care that I can feel the eyes of my teammates on us. In the two years I have been back in Seattle I haven’t dated anyone. I haven’t even flirted and now they see me call dibs like a teenager. It’s because of her. Nothing felt right about trying to date in this city if it wasn’t Ellis.

“How do you still do that?” she asks stepping closer to me so I can hear her over the crowd, we are toe to toe and eye to eye in her heels. Her lips are painted a similar red to her dress and it is taking everything in me to tear my eyes from the way they form her words. Lips I used to know so intimately bring back memories of every time I kissed them, every time they trailed over my body.

“Do what?” My hands fall to her hips and over the noise of the crowd I can hear her breath hitch at my hands encompassing her waist.

“Make me want to kiss you,” she whispers and licks her lips.