“It was nice to meet you, Sarai,” Clover called out as he took a couple of steps backward toward his lifted truck. “Evans, I’ll see you Monday.”

“It was nice to meet you, too,” Sarai called back as I opened the door for her.

“Where am I going?” I asked after I’d rounded the truck and climbed into my seat.

I felt bad that she seemed so upset about leaving her car, but I couldn’t help but feel a little lucky at the turn of events. I hadn’t expected the chance to have her all to myself again, even for a few minutes.

“Take a left,” she said, leaning her head tiredly against the headrest. “Then a right at the stop sign.”

I pulled out onto the street and followed her directions.

“Have you and Hailey been friends for long?” I asked, glancing at her. It was dark in the truck, but I could see her profile clearly as she stared out the windshield.

“Two years,” she answered.

I started to ask another question, trying to get her talking again, but she cut me off almost immediately.

“I can’t believe you’re friends with Sean,” she said. “I can’t believe anyone is friends with him.”

“Yeah,” I said carefully. I wasn’t sure how to explain why I’d ever hung out with Sean. He wasn’t my favorite person by any means. Most of the time, I thought he was kind of an asshole. But there was something about the relationship between fellow brothers-in-arms that civilians just didn’t understand. I might not like the guy, but I knew without a doubt that when push came to shove, he’d have my back like I’d have his. It wasn’t a friendship, exactly, but until tonight, he hadn’t given me a reason to actively dislike him.

“I try to keep my mouth shut,” she said. “I don’t talk badly about him to her, even though I think moving in together was a terrible decision.”

“Yeah,” I said again. I’d been surprised as hell when Sean had asked me to help him move. It seemed like a bad idea, but it wasn’t my business.

“But tonight”—she shook her head—“he was such an asshole. Why would she put up with that?”

“I don’t know,” I replied honestly. “In my family, that shit is never okay. You treat your partner with respect no matter how pissed you are.”

“I don’t like it,” Sarai said. “Get on the highway here.”

“I don’t like it, either,” I told her as I turned where she directed me. “Tonight, I thought the best course of action was to put his ass in bed. I didn’t want to make anything worse, you know?”

“Yep,” she said quietly. “I can imagine how Sean would act if you tried to correct him.”

“Like a big toddler?” I half joked.