After our picnic Sarai and I struggled to find time to see each other. I swear to God, I never had anything to do, and now suddenly it seemed like I was just as busy as she was. Sarai had classes Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays right after work and didn’t get home until nine o’clock. I had softball practice Tuesdays and Fridays after work for the stupid league I’d signed up for before we met. I was seriously regretting the day I’d thought it was a good idea to spend two nights a week playing softball with a bunch of guys I worked with all day, but if I was honest, my schedule probably didn’t matter much. When Sarai wasn’t busy at work or school, she was studying.

I had no idea how she kept up with it all. She seemed exhausted whenever we talked on the phone, but she never complained.

“You know if this woman really wanted to hang with you, she would, right?” Ani said conspiratorially through the phone. It was Tuesday night, and I was currently lying on my couch, icing my knee. I’d twisted it at practice, and it had swelled up like a balloon almost instantly. I’d been elevating and icing it for the last hour, and it didn’t seem to be making much of a difference.

“I’m not taking your advice,” I replied, shifting carefully. “You said breakfast wasn’t a date, and you were clearly wrong.”

“I wasn’t wrong,” she shot back.

“She’s into me,” I replied stubbornly.

“She’s not that into you.”

“She’s busy.”

“No one is that busy.”

“She’s got a full-time job and is working toward her MBA,” I argued. “She’s crazy busy.”

“Fine,” Ani said with a sigh, making me grin. “But, dude, seriously. Is this even a thing if you never actually see her?”

My face fell. Why did she have to ask the one question that had been rolling around in my brain the past couple of days?

“I have seen her—we just don’t live in each other’s pockets,” I said finally. “Why are you so bitchy lately?”

“Jesus,” she said with a groan. “I’m sorry. I’m totally bitchy.”

“What’s going on?”

“Nothing,” she snapped, then immediately her voice softened. “Sorry, I’m just stressed.”

If Ani was owning up to not having everything in her world perfectly handled, I knew that whatever she had going on had to be serious. She wasn’t a complainer.

“Anything I can help with?” I asked.

“No, not really.” She was quiet for a moment. “Arielle’s still on a shitty sleep schedule.”