“I mean, you might want to wipe your nose first and change out of your soccer jersey, but yeah. Let’s go.”

I tossed a pillow at his head. He caught it, a playful grin on his face. “Come on,” he said. “I know where he is. This is going to be fun.”

I texted Carlos to tell him I wasn’t going to make it to practice after all, then spent ten minutes cleaning myself up before following Jamie to his jeep. I was reeling. My heart racing. My mind buzzing. I was going to see Simon. Talk to him. Tell him the truth. I held the book and letter in my lap. Clutched it, really. Like it was a lifeline I hadn’t known I’d needed until I’d had it in my hands.

Jamie got on the highway heading toward Raleigh.

“Where are we going?” I asked.

“Into the city,” he replied. “Simon had a dinner meeting with a client. But . . .” He glanced at his watch. “He should be finishing up about the time we get there.”

“I’m not crashing his meeting.”

“Oh, come on. It’ll be fun.”

“Jamie.”

He grinned. “Fine. We can wait for him outside the restaurant.” He rolled his eyes. “If you want to be boring.”

I shook my head at his theatrics. “How’s Cooper?”

“He’s good. Really good. His letters are great, and he seems like he’s doing well.”

“And Dave?” I realized how much I’d missed hanging out with the brothers. With their entire family.

“Oh! He and Katie are expecting a baby.”

“Really? So soon?”

“Well, they say it only takes once.”

“Well, yeah, but . . .”

“It was a total surprise. A first-class accident, I’ve been told, but they’re still excited.”

“Are they settled in San Diego? They like California too?”

“Yep. They’re doing great.”

Twenty minutes later, we pulled into a parking garage in downtown Raleigh. Jamie got out and motioned for me to join him. “Come this way.”

“I told you I’m not storming the restaurant. This is crazy!”

“I know what you told me. But if we sit in the car, he could finish and leave and we’d never see him. We have to at least get into position, where we can see what’s happening.”

“Fine. But so help me, Jamie, if you’re leading me into a trap . . .”

We exited the garage on foot and rounded the corner. “No traps,” Jamie said. “Look. That’s the restaurant. He’s in there, which means he’s eventually going to come out that door.”

“How do you know he’s not going to be meeting all night?”

“I guess I don’t, really. But this is Simon we’re talking about. He’s not exactly a party animal.”

“What if his client is a woman and she’s beautiful and they end up talking for hours?”