I had to laugh at her assessment of my pre-Kiera relationships. She had a point, but still, the word skanky was really funny coming from her. Language, Jenny. Evan came up to us while I was laughing. He eyed Jenny, stumbling a little on her feet, then me. “Do I want to know?” he asked.

Pointing at her, I laughed out, “She just called my exes skanky.”

Evan smiled as he looked down at her. Jenny shrugged. “What? They were.”

Wrapping an arm around her, Evan sighed and shook his head. “Jujube, I think it’s time we get you to bed.”

Her face lit up as she leapt into his arms. Luckily, he caught her. Her mouth was on his a second later, and I shook my head. Damn…now I really missed Kiera. I texted Matt and Griffin that Evan and I were leaving, then I stepped outside. Evan was already disappearing into a cab with Jenny, going back to the hotel. I watched them leave, then got my own cab back to the hotel. I wasn’t tired yet, and I didn’t want to bug Benji and his roommate yet, so I hung out at the hotel bar until it closed, then I hung out in the lobby, waiting.

When I was pretty sure Kiera would be home from work, I pulled out my phone and called her. Please pick up. Thankfully, she did. “Hey,” she said.

I closed my eyes, savoring the sound of her voice. “Hey.” Then I noticed how tired she sounded. “You worked tonight, right? Or were you sleeping? Did I wake you?”

“I was up,” she said. “It’s just been a long day.”

She didn’t elaborate, so all I said was, “Oh…”

Silence fell between us, and I hated feeling the space there again. “I miss you. I wish you’d been able to come up.”

“Yeah, me too. I’m sorry about that.”

“It’s okay,” I said, shrugging. “I understand.” Not wanting to dwell on her absence, I instead said, “It’s been nice having Jenny and Rachel around. Kind of feels like home again. Although, not completely like home…” It would never be completely like home until she was with me again.

Kiera sighed, and I heard wistful longing in the sound. It made me smile. “How many times can I say I miss you before it gets annoying?” I asked.

She laughed a little. “One thousand,” she firmly stated.

“Per day or in total?” I asked.

She laughed again. “Hmmm…per day.”

My smile grew. “Good, then I’m nowhere near my limit. I miss you. So much. It kind of sucks actually…missing you all the time.”

I’d meant that playfully, but Kiera’s voice had an odd seriousness to it when she responded with, “Yeah, I know…”