“I fucked up,” I said.

His eyebrows knit together. “With Tabitha?”

I hesitated. “Yes, with Tabitha. But not only that. I took her to family dinner last night. It meant a lot to me, seeing her with my parents like that. Seeing the way they light up around her. When I got the migraine, she stayed and took care of me, and we talked all morning. Like it wasn’t temporary at all. Like Tabitha and I were two people in love, sharing a life together.”

Those eyebrows shot up to his hairline. I knew why.

“But then…” I dropped the ice pack onto the desk, right knee shaking. “Then an investor showed up. Oswald.”

“Fucking asshole,” Rowan muttered.

“He wants to buy Annie’s lot. And it was a mess. And I could feel Tabitha pulling away from me, getting ready to leave. I got angry and overwhelmed. I’d forgotten the meeting Harry had set up with the Game Time producer, but by the time I walked in there I was pissed and powerless, and when he talked about tons of money and having this giant comeback I…”

“Retreated,” Rowan said.

“I was going to go with was a total bastard. I said yes and didn’t tell you. Even though…”

Rowan let me trail off and collect my jumbled thoughts. I rubbed my forehead, rubbed my eyes. When I finally looked up, I couldn’t avoid what I wanted.

“Dean,” he said. “It doesn’t matter what I want or what some slimy producer wants. I’ll miss you like hell, but I’m not gonna be mad if you want that job.” He paused. “Do you want it?”

I pushed the empty water glass away with one finger. “Harry’s been blowing a bunch of smoke up my ass, telling me the network had a plan in addressing head injuries during matches. I was skeptical. The only way to prevent those injuries is for boxers to stop taking hits above their chest. It would mean no blood. No broken teeth. No knockouts.”

“No drama,” Rowan said grimly.

“It wouldn’t be boxing,” I said. “I threw this out to Rex while we were meeting. He gave me a spiel so full of bullshit you could see it from space. Said they’d do more to honor boxers who had passed away from their injuries, make some donations to research institutions. Small donations. I could tell he thought I’d be impressed. That my interest in this was surface level—because he gave me a bunch of surface-level solutions.”

“Did you sign a contract or anything?”