Page 109 of Masters of Control

Camille’s doorbell rang.

“That sounds good. My food just arrived, so it’s perfect timing.”

“Great, I’ll talk to you in a bit!”

That would give Camille more time to figure out exactly what to say. She wasn’t great with being vulnerable, and right now, she felt more vulnerable than she had in a long, long time.

Freddy

“I think you should text her.”

Morgan was just full of opinions this evening. He wanted to encourage her voicing her opinions, he just wished she was having opinions about something else.

“Text her and tell her what?”

“That you wished you’d seen her under different circumstances, but it was still nice seeing her today?”

Had it been nice seeing her today? He wasn’t sure. His first reaction had been excitement until his brain had caught up and reminded him of why he was there.

While he was mulling that over, another duo came up the stairs. Morgan squealed with happiness, waving at her friends, Carolyn and Marissa, obviously having a night out with each other. Freddy pasted his smile onto his face.

“Hey, guys! Where’s Amy?” Morgan asked, her brow wrinkling in concern. “I thought she was coming tonight.”

“She’s at the gym.” Carolyn waved her hand. “Still having trouble keeping the weight off.”

“Not for lack of trying. She told me she has a doctor’s appointment next week,” Marissa said. Something in her tone indicated she wasn’t happy with Carolyn’s attitude, which was a first. Usually, it was the two of them teaming up and Amy’s opinion either being ignored or beaten down.

“Oh, well, I hope everything’s okay. Here I’ll show you to your booth.” Thankfully, Morgan was on top of things, so Freddy didn’t have to interact with the Diva Duo. He really didn’t know how Morgan and Amy managed to be friends with them, but to each their own.

Morgan had gotten him thinking, though.

Was he really going to let where Camille worked get in the way of the spark they’d felt?

Would she be comfortable being the one to reach out after the way things had gone down today?

Maybe he should text her.

Getting out his phone, he rested it on the desk in front of him. For all that he was supposed to be good with words, he was struggling to come up with a good opening line.

Just start with the truth.

Glancing up to make sure no one was coming up the stairs, Freddy unlocked his screen and opened his texting app.

Freddy: Hello, I just wanted to say that I’m sorry about how today went down.

Staring at it, he deleted the message. That wasn’t the truth. He wasn’t sorry about how things had gone with the Alexanders. He was just sorry she was the one representing Brittany’s husband.

Freddy: Hello, I just wanted to check in with you and see how you are after today.

Okay, that was better.

A moment later, another group was coming up to the top of the stairs. Morgan wasn’t back yet, so he got them seated before returning to check on his phone. Nothing back so far. Maybe she hadn’t seen it.

Or maybe she didn’t want to talk to him after today.

The disappointment that filled him at that thought let him know that he wasn’t ready to be done with her yet. No matter where she worked.

Chapter Nine