MACEY: I hate those conferences. I’m so sorry you had to go, honestly.
TYLER: They’re not that bad, Macey.
There were a few more messages ranting about CE courses before I told them I was in desperate need of sleep. Though I was tired, I was grateful to have friends who reached out to me.
I had a message from Emily, too. She’d sent a picture of herself in Canada at Lake Louise, posing with a giant fish.
That made me smile.
There was even a message I’d missed from Mason, telling me he’d be coming back to visit California in a few weeks and that he’d like to see me.
But there were no messages from my parents. It had been crickets since I’d last heard from my father and told him to stop calling.
I’d asked for it, hadn’t I?
I wondered if Dr. Pike would tell my father we’d run into each other at the conference. They were best friends, after all. Surely he’d hear of it.
I sighed and walked up to the small bookshelf next to the bed, grabbing one of my floppy paperbacks. I really needed to stop thinking so much.
I lay on the bed, opened the pages, and escaped from my own problems to be in another world for a while.
CHAPTER 45
The next day, I didn’t work. I took the day to clean and do laundry. After doing a reset on my house chores, I sat down to write.
It was a little difficult for some reason. I had a full day with no plans. Surely my mind could write a scene or two.
But when I tried, my mind wandered to places it probably shouldn’t—moments from the trip, and images of Jay lying beside me in the dark hotel room, his navy eyes fixed on mine.
“I’m not going to touch you, Hope.”
I shook my head, trying to clear it, and forced myself to write at least five hundred words.
They were crappy words.
I switched tabs and started Googling things about the dental board. Laws on how to get someone’s license suspended in California. That put me on edge more than I thought it would.
By the time five rolled around, I was the one texting the Flossy Posse.
HOPE: Velvet Anchor anyone?
MACEY: Ohhhh, 5:00 on the dot. Someone’s eager to get out of the mansion.
TYLER: I’m down! Just clocking out.
HOPE: I need to pick up more shifts. I’m getting bored.
MACEY: Work more days with me pleeeeeaaasssseeee
Never in a million years did I think I’d ask to work more at the office. But here I was, wondering if maybe I needed the outlet more than I thought.
Around 5:30 I was pulling up to the Velvet Anchor. I quickly spotted my friends in their usual corner booth, already stocking up on mozzarella sticks. The sight of fried food had me letting out a verbal sigh of relief.
“Hey!” Tyler greeted me with a warm grin. He treated me completely normal, like we’d never gone on a date before. I was grateful that letting him down hadn’t affected our friendship.
“Hey,” I said.
“You look refreshed!” Macey said, eyebrows waggling. “How was the trip with the boss?”
