“It’s pretty obvious, isn’t it?” Andrea said.

“I don’t think it’s fucking obvious at all. What was all of this, if we’re not getting back together?”

Gigi backed up a step. “Fuck. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have come to get my stuff. I’ll just, um…go back to Chris’s or something.”

Clay heard her in a fog. He wanted to feel triumphant that he’d been fucking right about Gigi and Chris, but all he could hear was buzzing in his ears. Gigi backed out of the room, and the door clicked shut behind her.

“Why are you freaking out?” he demanded. Without another thought, he strode across the room and got in her face. “We go from fucking this morning to you pissed at me all over again?”

“Do you expect me to be happy when I see her in your hotel room while I’m off in the bathroom?” Andrea asked. She crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m not going to let that shit slide. I can’t do it anymore, Clay.”

“There is nothing going on with me and Gigi!” he bellowed. “Nothing!”

“Then, why were you hiding her? Then, why was she sneaking around?”

Clay grabbed his phone and shoved it in her face. “Read. She didn’t have any of her shit and was staying in Chris’s room because I booted her yesterday so that we could be alone. She had her own room. We weren’t even going to be sleeping in the same room, Andrea.”

Andrea scrolled through his phone and then seemed to crumple under the weight of the messages. “You’re…you’re really not with her?”

“I’m really not,” he told her firmly.

“I don’t understand how you can just be friends with another girl,” she said uncertainly. “You’ve only ever had that relationship with me.”

“I didn’t either. Honestly, I had no idea what the fuck I was doing. But it’s never been like that with me and Gigi. We’re too much alike. We spend too much time together. And she gives me shit for everything.” He shook his head. “I actually think she’s more on your side than anyone else is at this point. She thinks I’m a big fucking idiot forever letting you get away.”

“Well…you are,” Andrea said.

“Yeah, you’re right. And I’ve been regretting it every day for the last four months.” He reached out for her, and this time, she let him take her hand. “I know it’s not going to be perfect. I know we both have issues with moving forward. We both fucked around on the other for ten years and that was fine. Then when we were coming to terms with the fact that it wasn’t fine to do that anymore then, we acted like idiots. But I’m here, and we’re going to have to trust each other. I’m trying, and there’s no one else here for me but you. Do hear me?”

She nodded. “Yeah. I just…I guess I need to see this in action before I can start to move past those issues.”

“That’s fine by me. I think we both will have to work through it. I mean…” Clay scratched the back of his head. He hated admitting how fucked up he’d been about the break up, but he had been a total maniac. Andrea walking out on him had been one of the hardest times of his life. “You walked out without a word, Andrea. No matter what you heard while we were apart, that wasn’t easy for me.”

“I know,” she whispered.

“But I made up my mind in our time apart that we’d do things differently if we got back together. After last night, I thought that’s where we were headed. So, I don’t want to hear you saying that we’re not getting back together again.”

Her eyes narrowed when she looked back at him. “That’s my decision.”

“No, it’s not. It’s our decision, and I don’t want you to go and make it without me again.”

“I just…” She swallowed and dropped her hands. “I just don’t know how to do this.”

“Yes, you do. We do it together.”

“Who are you, and what have you done with Clay Maxwell?” she asked lightheartedly.

“I’ve been here all along. Right here. I just…I don’t know…grew up?”

She laughed. “Who would have guessed?”

“Probably no one. Ever.”

“Yeah.” Andrea brushed her hair off her shoulders and sighed. “So, where do we go from here?”

“Well, we should probably start with Gigi.”

Andrea clenched her jaw. “Do we have to?”

“We already dealt with Bad Suit. I don’t want Gigi to be between us.”

“Ugh. I just don’t like her, okay?”

Clay nodded. “You don’t have to. But she’s going to be around, Andrea. We work together, and we’re friends.”

“Friends,” she said dryly.

“Yes. Just friends. I’ll tell you as many times as you need for it to sink in.”

“Why didn’t you just tell me that she was coming to get her stuff? Why did you have to hide it?” she asked, her voice small. “I understand she had to come get her stuff and that you weren’t going to be sleeping in the same room, but did you really have to sneak around?”

Clay ran a hand back through his hair and shuffled on his feet. This had been him for so long that some habits die hard. He knew from now on that he was going to have to be careful. “I don’t know. Maybe I was a little worried about ruining the peace we’d established.”

Andrea blew out a shaky breath and shot him a hesitant smile. “I was kind of a bitch, wasn’t I?”

“You were…less than pleasant,” he said carefully. “But I should have warned you that she was coming to get her stuff.”

“Yes, you should have told me. But I guess I get why you didn’t,” she said finally. “I just don’t want you to do it again. If Gigi is forced to be in our life, then I don’t want to be second-guessing everything between you.”

Clay bent down and placed a soft kiss on her lips. “Done.”

“And I guess I’ll try to be more…pleasant. Maybe we should…see if she and Chris want to get brunch?” She chewed on her bottom lip after she’d said what he was sure was a really hard thing for her to ask.

“I’m sure they would like that.”