Page 17 of Miss Belief

“You’re in luck. Teagan is here now. Let me ask her for it.”

“Teagan is with you now? I’d love to hear that story.” He chuckled.

“Rain check on that.” I turned to see Teagan now standing, her head cocked to the side at the mention of her name.

“Aiden wants to know if you have Kendall’s contact information. He’s trying to plan a surprise for Chloe.”

Her gaze narrowed, and she held out her hand for the phone.

Amused, I walked over to let her take it.

“Hi, Aiden, this is Teagan. Explain to me why the hell I should help you after you broke my best friend’s heart.”

She stood quietly, listening to whatever Aiden was saying to her. Then suddenly she pulled out her phone, seemingly searching for something. “All right, you’ve convinced me. For now. But know that I have high expectations you will grovel properly once you get to LA and see Chloe. And of course, I fully expect you to make her deliriously happy.”

I couldn’t hear what my best friend was saying, but from the way Teagan had relented about giving him the information, I assumed he must’ve been persuasive. After reciting the details, she handed my phone back to me with a smile.

“You have what you need?” I asked Aiden and heard him chuckle in response.

“I do. To be honest, I feel safer here in Iraq than I will if I screw this up with Chloe and Teagan finds out.”

Now it was my turn to laugh. “I’d say your assessment is fair. Be safe this next week, so you can get to LA. Okay?” He’d already lost half a leg to the war; I certainly didn’t want him to sacrifice anything else—like his life.

“Will do. We’ll talk again soon.”

“Yeah, soon. Goodbye.”

“Bye.”

I hung up, my eyes fixed on the fiery redhead in front of me. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone put Aiden on the spot the way you did.”

She shrugged. “Wasn’t as if I was about to give him the address and say feel free to go break Chloe’s heart again.”

“He must’ve been pretty convincing.”

She rolled her eyes. “He wasn’t bad. I just hope he follows through. She loves him.”

“He loves her too. But he was too stubborn to realize he was worthy of her. Sounds as though he’s come to his senses.”

“We’ll see.”

“Mm, sounds cynical?”

She sat back on the couch and tucked her long legs beneath her. “I’m not cynical, just wary.”

“Why?”

She sighed, clearly not wanting to talk about this subject.

“You’re the one who suggested deeper conversation.”

“Yeah, but more like what is your favorite memory as a child?”

“My favorite memory is from when I was eight years old. It was the summer we went up on a family vacation to Maine. Aiden’s family went with us, and I spent all three weeks swimming, fishing, and running around with my best friend and my older brother. That’s my favorite memory from childhood. Now then, why are you so wary? Bad relationship?”