Page 72 of Lose You Twice

“You got stuck to a door,” Asher says.

“For science.”

Donnelly looks at the tape. “If that roll goes missing, I’m charging you.”

Weston points at Wren. “Is he always this hateful?”

Wren doesn’t even look up from her clipboard. “I find him soothing.”

Donnelly snorts.

Weston looks delighted. “Oh, Wren, I forgot how funny you are. That’s dangerous.”

“She’s working,” I say, shooting him a glare.

The words are out before I can pull them back.

Wren’s eyes lift to mine.

A warning.

Not angry. Not yet. Just enough to remind me of what she said in the equipment room.

I drag a hand over the back of my neck. “Sorry.”

The apology is quiet enough that only she hears it.

Her expression softens for half a second, then closes again before anyone else can notice. “It’s fine.”

It isn’t.

Not fully.

But she lets me have the correction, and I take the win because I’ve been short on those lately.

Donnelly sends me and Grayson to load two trunks into the equipment van. Wren follows with a smaller bag and a clipboard, her pace quick as she checks items off the list. The afternoon sky is already heavy, clouds low over campus in a way that makes Coach’s decision to leave early look smarter by the hour.

“Storm’s supposed to hit tomorrow night on the pass,” Grayson says, lifting his end of the trunk.

“I saw.”

He gives me a baffled look as we put the trunk into the van. “You saw the weather?”

“Everyone should check the weather before traveling.”

“Most people look out a window.”

I nod my head toward Weston. “Most people forget socks.”

From behind us, Weston yells, “I found both today!”

Wren laughs under her breath, and my grip tightens on the trunk.

That laugh.

I want it again immediately, which is a bad sign and not something I have time to unpack while carrying fifty pounds of equipment to a van.

We load the trunks. Wren checks the list. Grayson heads back inside to grab the last set of stick bags, leaving me and Wren alone by the open van doors.