A half hour later, their clothes discarded in the entryway of the hotel room, they laid side by side in the king bed. Trying to bring some levity to the gravity of what just went down, Gina broke the silence.

"I'm not sure this is what Ashlyn had in mind when she said we needed to sort our shit out."

EJ laughed, a real, easy laugh. "Oh, I think this is EXACTLY what Ashlyn had in mind. She ships it, hard."

"You're kidding."

"She even has a couple name for us."

"Stop it!"

"Yep, she calls us 'Portwell.'"

"Ok, that's actually embarrassing."

"Right? Unfortunately, it seems to have caught on."

"Caught on, with who? Who else knows about this?"

"Well, Big Red, obviously, which means Ricky, if he was paying attention."

"That seems unlikely. Anyone else?"

"Seb, which means Carlos, which means…"

"Anyone who's ever met us in the greater Salt Lake region, and probably a whole bunch of people who haven't."

"Correct. How do YOU not know about this? You and Ashlyn are so close."

"I love Ashlyn like a sister, but there are two hard and fast rules in our friendship. Number one, don't borrow my shoes, because her feet are a half size bigger even if she never admits it, and she always stretches them out. Number two, don't speak of EJ Caswell unless asked directly."

"Ouch, Porter."

"It's been a confusing few years, ok?"

"You can say that again. Hey, Gi…"

She felt her heart sink a little. "We've gotta talk about this, don't we?"

"Probably a good idea."

"So… what does this mean?"

"You're the one who took it there, Porter. What's your take?"

Gina leaned over and laid her head on EJ's chest, partially to feel closer to him and partially to avoid having to look him in the eye as she spoke.

"The truth is, ever since that morning, I've picked up the phone a hundred times to call you, which you know what a big deal that would be." She felt him laugh underneath her. Facetime was one thing, but anyone who knows Gina Porter knows that if someone tries to get her on a regular old voice call, she will send it to voicemail as fast as humanly possible. "At first I was afraid of what you'd say, that you were already regretting our… what happened."

"What happened? We had sex, Gina, We've done it before. I kinda hope we do it again?"

"Down, boy," she jokingly admonished, rolling her eyes. "But yeah, that. Anyway, I was afraid of looking crazy, like I'd said one thing but meant another, when I knew how badly I'd keep failing at trying to hide how I felt about you. And I was afraid of being rejected. I wasn't in a great place then, and I couldn't handle one more thing falling apart."

"But why the radio silence, then? It fell apart anyway."

"Every time I DIDN'T call, it just got harder to imagine ever ACTUALLY calling. You were off doing your thing, finishing school and starting a real life and I was just starting over. It's not like you were reaching out that much, so I assumed the distance was working for you. The slow fade seemed the least painful way to be let go, so I just… stopped trying."

He shifted out from under her, turning to face her and making her meet his eyes. "Yeah, remember how you said you were trying not to get hurt? I was already there. There was SO MUCH I wanted to say to you that morning, that what we had was absolutely real and we'd figure it out. But you seemed SO sure that you were making the right move, I couldn't bring myself to get shot down again. And I couldn't go back to being just friends. I tried, but I felt like I was always one step away from confessing everything and blowing it all up. So when I pulled back and you folowed suit, I figured leaving me on read for three days was all the message I needed that it was time to move on."

"Bad intel strikes again."

"Except the intel was straight from the source this time."

"I know. And I'm sorry. It was like, the worst possible timing. The injury really messed me up, and I wasn't sure about anything, didn't trust myself at all. My head wasn't in a great place. Made it easy to convince myself it was a mistake after the smoke cleared."

"And what do you think now? Was it a mistake? Was THIS a mistake?"

"I'm not sure that angry sex is ever REALLY the answer," she laughed. "But," she said, winding her fingers through his, "this was definitely not a mistake. And even if it was, it would be one I intend to keep repeating." She kissed him again, but it was different this time. The desperation, the urgency was gone, replaced by something deep and reassuring and steady. And she liked that even better.

"Before we get a little, um, carried away again…" EJ broke in, "I know you're moving to Boston. I'm sorry, Ash told me… we don't have any 'no talking about Gina Porter' rules."

"I figured she had."

"So for the first time in a long time, we're going to be in the same city, at the same time. For more than a weekend."

"And?"

"Doesn't that feel like some kind of, I don't know, some kind of sign? That the universe is finally putting back in each other's way?"

Gina absentmindedly tugged at one of her curls, lost in thought.

"What are you thinking, Gi?"

"I'm thinking I've heard there's a lot of good Italian food in Boston."

EJ broke into a smile. "The North End, right? I hear good things."

"I bet we could find an excellent spot for risotto."

The words were barely out of her mouth before he captured her lips with his.

An hour later, they dragged themselves out of the cocoon of the hotel room and EJ drove her back to Ashlyn's. The dinner had kept her busy until late, but Gina's phone started pinging with text notifications about 15 min ago, and she knew they had to get back before Ashlyn sent out a search party, given that she wasn't sure if they were hooking up or killing each other. They rode in a comfortable silence, hands wound together as EJ drove.

"So I gotta ask…"

"Do you, though? Can't we just enjoy the silence?"

He laughed, but pressed onward. "Why the hotel room? Wasn't the plan to stay with Ashlyn?"

"Kind of? I knew she'd mentioned it, but you know how I feel about imposing on her family. I've done that quite a bit over the years. Plus, it felt better to have a back up plan, in case things got, you know, too… Caswell."

"I'm sure it had nothing to do with avoiding one Caswell in particular, right?"

"That MAY have factored into my decision making. Came in handy for that Caswell for very different reasons tonight, though, right?"

"Same with me and this rental, actually. I knew I couldn't be beholden to my mom and dad all weekend whenever I needed to get somewhere. Less questions if I'm not constantly asking for the keys."

"Which has ALSO come in handy this evening."

"Who knew our planning to avoid each other would actually facilitate… this… this…"

"Reunion?" Gina supplied hopefully. "Or maybe just… a fresh start."

EJ got quiet all of a sudden.

"This right here is the happiest I've felt in a long time. And I want that to keep going for as long as I possibly can. But there's a part of me, a big part, that's really freaking the fuck out right now."

Fighting the urge to withdraw her hand from his, she instead grasped it with both. "Talk to me, EJ. Really, no bullshit."

"I'm just scared, maybe? I don't know. I've loved you for a long time, Gi. I don't know that I ever stopped. But a lot has changed in the last few years. I don't know your favorite song that's on the radio now, or what kind of physical therapist you're going to be. I don't know how you take your coffee these days, or what kind of red wine you were drinking at the restaurant. I used to know everything about you, inside and out. There's just this distance there, now, and..."

He broke off abruptly, and Gina saw him let go of the wheel for a moment to wipe his eyes.

"Hey, EJ… none of that matters. I mean, yeah, it matters, but I'm looking forward to getting to know all that about you again."

He was quiet for a moment, before he said softly, "But what if you don't like it?"

"What do you mean?"

"Gina, what if I'm not who you think I am anymore? What if you want to be with EJ three years ago, and not EJ now? I don't want to disappoint you, like you're chasing some ghost."

"Eej… yeah, I don't know which sheets you like or where you buy your jeans… the ones you had on yesterday are great by the way. Wear them all the time." He laughed. "But I know your heart. I know you're the best guy who would rather deny his own feelings that hurt someone else. I know you worry you'll never be good enough and disappointing the people you love is your worst fear. I know I have never felt the way I do when you touch me when it's been anyone else. That you just... get me. Time doesn't change those things. Not the things that count."

"I wish I was as confident in me as you are."

"Oh, if you need a reality check, you're also stubborn and a little too stoic and are weirdly obsessed with how your biceps look," she laughed. "I still follow you on Insta, I see you with all those thirst trap gym pics. And believe me, I'm not under any illusions that we have sex once -"

"Twice," he cut in, "you mean twice tonight."

She rolled her eyes. "Fine, twice. And that just fixes everything. We've got a lot of work to do. But I WANT to do the work with you. I don't want to be the one that leaves anymore. I want to be the one that stays. With you."

He went quiet again, and Gina was dying inside, waiting for something, anything.

After what felt like an hour but was probably only five seconds, he said "Ok."

"... Ok? That's all you got, Caswell?"

"I'm in, I'm all in. I'm just wondering what the hell we do the rest of this weekend."

"Ugh, I know. The LAST thing I want to do is upstage Ashlyn and Big Red in any way. They deserve this to be about them, not our drama. We don't need a whole reception talking behind our backs."

"You know these guys, they'll say it straight to our face."

" We've gotta tell Ashlyn, right?"

"I'm not going there. That feels like a girl talk thing if ever there was one."

"So you're putting this on me? This relationship is off to a great start."

He laughed. "You're just mad you didn't think to put it on me first."

"I hate it when you're right."

"That's what Ash says, too."