“You look good, happier than I can remember. More at ease.”
He wasn’t the only one walking around with a silly grin on his face. The minute Astrid walked in, he’d noticed a certain glow about her. It took him a bit to realize it was more than the cruise.
“You, too, it seems.”
Her face lit up. “As it happens, I met someone myself.”
“While you were in New Zealand,” he said. After the way she gushed about her time on the island, it was an educated guess.
“Yes. How’d you know?”
The answer was easy. “The same way you knew about me and Maisy.”
“Maisy.” Astrid repeated the name slowly. “I can’t wait to meet her. Anyone who’s brought this light into your eyes must be one incredible woman.”
“She is,” Chase confirmed. He wanted to say more, but held back. Now wasn’t the time.
He was eager to ask Astrid about the man she’d met when the server returned and noticed neither had touched their salads. “Was there something wrong with the Niçoise?”
“Not at all,” Chase assured him.
“Could we have the check?” Astrid asked. “I need to get home…I’m expecting a phone call.”
Chase didn’t need to ask who was calling; simply the way she mentioned the call told him all he needed to know.
Chapter Twenty-seven
Chase worried about Maisy and her family and suspected the news she was so reluctant to share had to do with more than her grandmother’s health. The minute he was home from the office and had privacy, he sent her a text.
Are you ready to talk?
Not yet.
Answer the phone or I swear I’ll fly out there myself.He was serious and he’d do it, although the timing was rotten, with his father due to leave for Europe.
Please, Chase, don’t.
Then tell me what’s upset you to the point you can’t talk to me.
Three small dots appeared, indicating she was typing a response.
It has to do with my family. No one is hurt or dying. Can we leave it at that?
No. Don’t you understand how deeply I care about you and your family? Not knowing is driving me insane.
He found it impossible to ignore this silence any longer. He loved Maisy and her family. If this was a situation where he could help, he would move heaven and earth to make it happen.
Are you always this stubborn?
Not always, but when it concerns you and I know you’re hurting I can’t help myself.
Unwilling to continue typing and getting no answers, he punched her contact and was grateful she answered on the second ring.
“I wish you’d done as I asked and given me time,” she greeted him, sounding nothing like herself.
“Maisy, I did wait, but enough is enough. Tell me what’s going on and how I can help.”
“You can’t,” she insisted.
