From:History Toni
To:Addie
I tried to find you after the bar. Tell me you’re home safely.
Toni
Addie wasn’t sure what to say. Obviously, she was home safely, but she didn’t want the conversation to end there. “It’s her,” she told Eric. “I don’t know what to say.”
“Ask to meet her for breakfast,” Eric suggested.
“That’s… I don’t…” Addie wanted to see her, but she also wanted time to think. She wasn’t ready to process how she’d reacted to the professor.
Eric sat and waited. “Seriously, Ads? Then what’s your plan?”
That, of course, was the dilemma. The conference had ended. There was not a lot of likelihood that Addie would casually bump into Toni. Even though Addie would be moving back to the States soon, they’d be on opposite sides of the country.
Here, they had an ocean between them. There, it was still over two thousand miles of land between them. Half the distance in physical miles was still awfully far apart. And what sort of serious history professor would want a woman who lived off theater gigs that barely paid?
“I’ll send a reply, but…” Addie was low on a lot of things, but she had ample faith that there was an order to the world. “She lives in Washington, DC, though, so we’ll be almost as far apart there as if I stayed here.”
Eric nodded.
“But I have a good feeling…,” Addie whispered. It was more a hope than anything. Toni had touched her, held her, kissed her. Surely, she’d give some sign that she was as overwhelmed as Addie was.
“Does that mean we’re moving to DC?” Eric had been the one to pick Scotland, so by all rights, it was her turn to decide where they moved.
An impulsive streak had her wanting to say yes, but the reality was that if she wanted stage credits, they’d look at Manhattan. If she wanted television or film, she should be in Los Angeles, and that was what she wanted—almost as much as she wanted to find The One. Moving to DC and putting off pursuing her career, all because of one kiss, was ridiculous.
“No. We’re going to LA.…” Addie hated the burst of logic that seemed to have seeped into her, but she truly did believe that if they were meant to be, they would be.
From:Adelaine
To:History Toni
I am home safely. Are you always so demanding? (I like it.) I’ve never been so… scandalous. I panicked. Want to try again?
Addie
And if all else failed, Addie could see what conferences Toni was presenting at. That’s what professors did—they talked about their research at conferences—so Addie was sure shecouldfind Toni again if the universe needed a nudge.
Chapter 6Toni
Two days later, Toni was fumbling on her nightstand for the phone that had been playing soothing rainforest sounds until it started blaring Emily’s ringtone.
“Em? Are you okay?”
“Yes.”
“Why are you calling at—” She looked at the phone. “—eleven in the morning?” Toni didn’t quite pet the surly cat who was now kneading her legs and staring at her, as if daring her to yelp. Her trip away from him, even though he had had a cat sitter, had put her in the very obvious position of penitent owner. Despite her best efforts, she yelped. “Damn it. That hurt, Oscar Wilde.”
“Aw, is my sweet monster nearby?” Emily’s professional voice gave way to the cajoling tone that Oscar Wilde elicited from otherwise reasonable people. “Tell him his Emmy misses him.”
The cat started purring, somehow still shooting glares at Toni.
“Did they all pass?” Toni blurted. “The publishers, I mean… did they pass on the book?”
“No.” Emily took an audible breath. “We have a four-way situation. Initial offers came in, but I was trying to let you sleep after you growled the first time I called.”
