“Hey girl!” Zuri’s cheerful voice answers after the second ring.
“Hey, um.” My voice hitches, and my throat closes before I can say any more.
“Where are you?”
I sense the shift in Zuri’s mood immediately.
“Um, by the river.”
“Share your location, I’m on my way.”
Zuri sits down next to me without a word, holding an arm out for me to lean into. I gratefully tuck myself into her side, breathing in her familiar, comforting scent.
“Thanks for coming.”
Zuri nods, her cheek resting on top of my head.
“What do you need?” she asks.
“To go home, I think. I’ll call Noemi and ask to work from home the rest of the day.”
We take our time walking back to her car, then I buckle up in the passenger seat while she runs into the office to grab my purse and work laptop.
Zuri looks at me from the corner of her eye when we make it to our building. “Do you want to talk about what happened?”
“Not really.”
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” I say, realizing it’s true. “I’m okay.”
I dredge up what I hope is an encouraging smile.
“I gotta call work, let Noemi know I’m not coming back in. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate you being there for me today,” I say, stopping inside the door to pull Zuri into a quick hug before disappearing into my room.
Noemi clears me to work from home the rest of the day as well as tomorrow, so I don’t have to worry about going back into the office until Monday. That gives me a few days to talk to Asher, see if he’s spoken with his parents, or come up with any ideas for how to navigate this situation. After some couch cuddles with Reverie, I text him to meet me at the local coffee shop down the road from my apartment if he’s free, which he immediately agrees to.
My foot is jiggling like mad while I wait for him to arrive. It’s mid-afternoon and the place is mostly empty wooden tables, with soft jazz floating through the air.
His face is pinched in concern, handsshoved in his pockets and steps hurried as he walks up, but the lines on his face soften when he sees me, and his exhale loosens the tension around his shoulders. Asher envelops me in a tight hug after dropping his bag onto a chair, then pulls back and cradles my face in his hands. His eyes ping between mine, thoughtful and serious and so, so beautiful.
“Hey,” I say. “Thanks for coming.”
“Of course. Why aren’t you at work? Is everything okay?”
I break eye contact, looking down instead. He pulls me into his chest, smothering me in his woodsmoke scent.
“What happened?” he whispers.
“Um, I mean, nothing major. Just Chadwick dropped into the kitchen to say hi while I was there, and I sort of ran away and freaked out.” I attempt a rueful smile, but he’s back to scowling and I can’t hold on to it.
“Why didn’t you call me?”
“I didn’t want to worry you.”
“I was worried anyway, and not hearing from you all day, every day this week certainly doesn’t help.”
“Oh. Right.” I look down at my hands, not having thought about my last few days from his point of view. Although he’s been tense in the evenings, he hasn’t seemed overly worried.
