Talia
Ideal Life Queen Elizabeth: It has been four days since you have seen or communicated with Sam, even though he has texted you.
I have analyzed your prior messages and his recent ones, and there does not seem to be any conflict between the two of you.
However, your mood markers have been a bit lower recently.
May I suggest that you reach out to him? I think it would be good for you.
The current barrier, of course, was her own doing.
In the last few days, she’d been able to move past replaying the kiss again and again in her head.
But she hadn’t gotten over the guilt of erasing it, which is why she hadn’t responded to Sam’s texts, even though Sam himself had no memory of her horribly awkward mistake.
“Oh, fine.” She opened up her messaging app on her desktop.
She hit Send and held her breath.
There was no reason Sam would think anything strange of it. Still, her pulse trembled as she waited.
The thing was, she might be waiting for hours if Sam was busy unpacking boxes of books or chatting with customers or even just reading.
He often left his phone in the little office on the second floor of the lighthouse, and he didn’t wear a smartwatch or Omni 3Ds or any of the other tech that Talia found useful.
Which made him maddeningly difficult to reach when she wanted to hear from him.
Sam: Who is this? I don’t think I’ve heard from this number in a while. I don’t rendezvous with strangers. It’s dangerous, you know.
She laughed, relief filling her chest.
Talia: I know it’s not Sunday, but can we do Taco Bell?
Sam: Are you trying to get out of paying by changing the day?
She sent him an animated emoji of herself arching a brow and wrote “See you soon.” Then she shut off her computer and grabbed her purse, leaving the building before she could change her mind. It was only 5 p.m., which meant it was five hours earlier than she usually left the office.
But this was important. Ideal Life Queen Elizabeth had said so. And the queen always knew best.