Page 70 of A Solid Guide to Surviving a Situationship

“Good,” Andi answered. “Very good, actually.”

“Not sure about this one,” Honey said, clearly pointing at me.

There was a beat.

And then⁠—

“Hi, James.”

I closed my eyes briefly before turning around.

“What do you want?” I asked, flat.

Behind Kyle, I saw Andi gasp.

Kyle blinked once, then smiled—slow, amused.

“Straight to it,” he said. “I missed that.”

“I didn’t,” I shot back.

“Clearly so,” he replied, glancing at my racket. “You look… aggressive.”

“And you look like you should be somewhere else,” I said.

“Ouch,” he said lightly, placing a hand over his chest like I’d actually hurt him. “And here I thought you’d be happy to see me.”

“Why would I be?”

Andi let out a quiet laugh. “Okay. This is fun.”

I shot her a look.

She raised both hands. “We’ll just be busy here.”

Kyle stepped a little closer—not enough to invade, but just enough to be felt… and smelled.

Clinique Happy for Men. God!

“I just wanted to say hi,” he said, voice softer now. “Didn’t expect to run into you here.”

“Yeah, well,” I said, gripping my racket a little tighter than necessary, “now you did. Congrats.”

Honey snorted.

Kyle glanced at her briefly, amused, then looked back at me.

“You always this nice when you’re out of breath?” he asked.

“I’m not out of breath, Babe—” I paused, shocked at saying our pet-name out loud. “—Kyle.” I corrected.

“Still babe,” Honey said calmly, half smiling.

I shot her a look too. “You are not helping.”

Kyle chuckled under his breath.

God! Stop!