Shaking my head, I say with a chuckle, “I still can’t believe you’re defending Lennox.”
She laughs. “I know. I kind of can’t believe it either.”
We smile at each other before taking sips of our coffees. Her words have been wise, and she makes a lot of sense. I’m feeling a little better about things, like maybe I overreacted.
Setting her cup down and trailing her finger along the rim, without looking at me, Claire says, “I think you should give him another chance. He knows what he did was wrong. He knows he needs to be honest with you, even about uncomfortable things.”
“Yeah,” I snort. “Things like having an interview…alone…with a chick who’s dying to sleep with him.”
Claire looks up and over at me, her finger stilling on the rim of her cup. “But he didn’t sleep with her, Madison,” she says. “And when she touched him, he moved her hand away. You just happened to walk in at the moment where it looked worse than it really was.”
I nod. “That’s true.” We’re quiet for a beat, and then I say softly, “He texted me today. It’s the first I’ve heard from him since I told him I needed time.”
Now it’s Claire’s turn to smack her hand on the table.
But she doesn’t look like she thinks this is bad, even though I told her I asked him not to contact me. She actually appears to be more delighted than anything else.
Clearly, she is, as she gushes, “Oh my God, no way. What did he say?”
“I don’t know,” I reply.
“What do you mean, you don’t know? Didn’t you read his text?”
I shake my head. “No.”
With her brow creasing, she says, “What is wrong with you, girl? Read the damn text.”
My purse is by my chair, so I slowly reach down and pull out my phone. Carefully, I set it on the table.
“Hello!” Claire exclaims. “What are you doing over there? Read the freaking text already, okay?”
But I don’t.
Not yet.
Biting my lip, I say, “I don’t know if I want to. What if it’s bad? What if it’s a text telling me to just give it up and never contact him again? What ifheis done withme?”
“Oh, stop it,” she pshaws. And then she adds, “I swear, if I knew your passcode, I’d grab that phone from you and read the damn thing myself.”
I guffaw. “Good thing I have Face ID turned on.”
“Yeah, lucky for you,” she mutters under her breath.
Claire is something else. You can’t put anything past her. I wouldn’t be surprised if she snatches up my phone after all, turns it to my face, unlocks it, and reads the text.
Shit, she has that look.
I better do it first.
Lifting the phone, I quickly use my Face ID and unlock it. “Okay,” I say, blowing out a breath. “Here goes nothing.”
“Or everything,” Claire chimes in.
Sighing, I open the text and read it to myself.
It says:
I love you. I miss you. I’m here when you’re ready.
