HL:Great.
Blaise:Do you have any questions?
HL:I’ll let you know after I finish my research.
Blaise:I’m here when you’re ready.
He waited for a reply but none came. She must be busy like him. Time to read through the contract.
The rest of the day, he kept waiting for her to reply. She didn’t. Wednesday came and then Thursday. No text arrived from Hadley.
Was she still doing her research?
Blaise wanted to call, but he didn’t want to come across as a creeper.
By Friday, he still hadn’t heard from Hadley. On his way back to his office, he pulled out his cell phone. His patience had disappeared.
Contacting her wasn’t crossing a line. He needed to discuss her visit on Sunday. That was business-related. Not personal.
Forget a text. Blaise would call. He clicked on her number.
One ring.
Her voice message announcement played. “You’ve reached Hadley Lowell. Please leave your name and number, and I’ll call you back.”
As Blaise disconnected from the call, he clenched his jaw. The other day when he’d texted people, he’d reached everyone when they were available to reply immediately. That wasn’t the norm for his friends. Maybe it wasn’t for Hadley, either. No reason to be frustrated. She would see he’d called and get in touch.
Except she didn’t.
Each time he checked his list of calls and texts without seeing her name, his chest tightened.
A stupid reaction but he couldn’t help it.
After listening to HR present about a new workplace inclusion training, he returned to his office. Still no reply from Hadley.
Okay, he hadn’t left a message, but the call notification was often enough to get a reply. At least with his friends. Given she was flying to Portland this weekend, she should want to touch base and firm up plans. Unless…
Something happened to her or one of the kids.
His stomach churned.
He hit her number on his contact list.
One ring. Two… “Hello?”
Hearing her voice loosened his bunched muscles. “It’s Blaise.”
“What’s up?” she asked as if hearing from him was no big deal.
It wasn’t a big deal. Not really. Except he needed his pulse to calm. “I want to touch base about Sunday.”
“I’ve booked my flight.”
Blaise released the breath he hadn’t realized he was holding. One step closer to winning the bet, but that wasn’t on his mind as much as… “If you’re flying in on Saturday, I could show you around. Take you out to dinner.”
Ugh.Could he be any more obvious or awkward? If he kept this up, he would be competing against Dash for being the nerdiest with women.
“Thanks, but I’m not arriving until Sunday.”
