“True. But we are friends, right?”
He nodded.
“I go back to Hawaii on November 1, the day after Dillon’s wedding. I don’t want to spend the next two weeks having sex with you just to leave you and hurt you. And I realize I’m projecting because I know if I spent the next two weeks having sex with you and then went back to work, it would hurt me.”
“It’s only eleven days until you leave.”
“Oh, you know what I mean.”
“I know. But I also know a lot of things hurt.”
“That’s your answer?”
“It’s true. A lot of stuff in life hurts. And not all of it’s bad. Didn’t your arms hurt when you hammered that mantel?”
“Yeah. Felt it all the way down my back.”
“But you liked it?”
“Kind of. Is that weird?”
“Do you work out?”
“I run.”
“Does it hurt?”
“Sometimes.”
“Do you quit because it hurts?”
“Not unless I’m injured.”
“So just because something hurts doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it. Right?”
“Are you trying to get me into bed?”
“Well...you’re already on the bed. Into bed seems like the next logical step.”
“Did you put a condom back in your toolbox?”
“No.”
“No?”
“I put ten in it.”
Joey’s eyes widened.
“You know, just in case you wanted...”
“I want.”
He took a step forward.
She held up her hand. He stopped.
“I want,” she repeated. “But.”