Page 81 of Not on the Same Page

Isabella goes silent, and for a moment, the only sound is my sandals slapping against the sidewalk. Despite the traffic, the streets are quiet tonight, likely because everyone who isn’t on the road is tucked in, getting ready to go back to work in the morning after the long weekend.

“I don’t know,” she says with a hint of vulnerability. “Sometimes a person can, I think. But it works a lot better when you’ve done some internal work to figure out what you want first.”

“You sound like you’re speaking from experience,” I deflect.

“We’re all works in progress,” she returns. “So, what are you going to do?”

“Well…” I trail off as I approach the door to my building. “I’m going to call Imani and deal with this mess. Maybe take a shower. Sleep.” If I can, I leave off. Though at this point, a night awake might not be all that different from one with repeated dreams.

“For the record, I disagree with this plan.”

“Noted,” I say as I start climbing the stairs to my apartment. “Good night, Isabella.”

She grumbles but eventually wishes me a good night and hangs up. I stare at my phone for a minute, unsure if opening the door to a conversation is a good idea but remembering my promise to Casey before I left. He’ll worry if I don’t at least text him. And a promise is a promise. I’m not one to break them, even if a lot of people in my life have. So I fire off a quick message.

Me: I made it home.

Then, before I can overthink what I’m doing, I type out another and send it.

Me: I will fix this. Somehow.

I don’t know if I’m talking about Imani or us or both, but I have to believe there’s a solution out there. Something that will smooth everything over and let us at least move on professionally, if not personally.

The three dots bounce at the bottom of the screen, but only for a second. Not even long enough for my heart to make it all the way to my throat.

Casey: Good night, Trina.

I stare at my screen, waiting for something else, but it goes dark. Casey won’t be sending more messages, and I’m not sure why I thought he might. We broke up. We’re done. We’re no longer in the same book, let alone on the same page.

Sighing, I set my phone on the counter with a premonition that tonight is not going to be a good one at all.

28

CASEY

“Hi, Nora.” I greet Anastasios’s secretary as I walk up to his office door. “Is he in?”

After a sleepless night worrying about Imani and Trina and the state of Starlight, the only thing I can think to do when I get to the office is pick Anastasios’s brain about the whole thing. Well, everything except my relationship with Trina. That’s something I’m going to have to figure out on my own.

Nora shakes her head, her black, blunt-cut bob and large earrings jingling with the motion. “He called this morning. He won’t be in for a while. Something about a family emergency.”

Frowning, I push my hands into my pockets. “Is everything okay?”

She shrugs, her purple blouse shifting with the motion. “He didn’t say what was going on, but he asked that I cancel his appointments this week.”

I raise my eyebrows in surprise. “The whole week?”

Nodding solemnly, she says, “At least.”

My cheeks puff as I blow out a breath. I glance at Ryan’s office door a ways down the hall, and that room looks dark too.

“Is Ryan in?” I ask.

“Doctor’s appointment,” she answers, smiling to herself. “I told him he better bring some ultrasound pictures this time. Something I can help you with?”

“Unfortunately, no.” I shake my head and turn to walk back to my office. “Thanks, Nora.”

I guess I’m on my own on this one, at least for today. Normally, that would be fine, except this time, I’m completely fucking lost. I had thought if I could solve the publishing problem, at least that might boost my confidence enough to solve the Trina problem. If everything worked out on that front, she wouldn’t have anything to worry about, and we could carry on as we were. But as it turns out, I’m stuck with both problems and my own devices, which so far haven’t proven useful.