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?”
I slid into the seat next to Tyler and let out a dry laugh.
“It was fine. Long and a little boring.” I chose to leave out the part where we stayed in a hotel room together. Surely that would be too good of gossip to just hand over to Macey on a silver platter.
“Well, my weekend was far from boring. I went on a date with this guy named Jaxon, and you’re not going to believe where he took me,” Macey said, her hands already going crazy—full storytelling mode activated.
“Buckle up,” Tyler said, giving me an amused look. “This one’s a doozy. I heard it during work today, during a root canal.”
I laughed and leaned back in my seat, sipping my Coke.
“I’m ready.”
When I got home, it was nearly eleven. I parked in the driveway, still smiling from the get-together with my friends. Listening to Macey talk about her college dating life and Tyler’s funny commentary was exactly what I’d needed.
When I opened the door to my apartment and was about to start up the stairs, my foot landed on something I wasn’t expecting. Something hard and plasticky.
“What the—?” I hurried to turn on my phone flashlight and angled it down at my feet.
It took me a second, but it finally registered that a binder had been set on the base stair.
There was a note on the top.
Thought you might like this – J
My heart rate sped up at the sight of his handwriting, and I quickly picked up the binder, curiosity and confusion flooding through me.
I hurried up the stairs with the binder clutched beneath my arm, then flicked on the lights. I went to sit down on the couch so invested that I forgot to take my shoes off. I flipped open the cover and was greeted with a bunch of paragraphs.
Black and white everywhere.
There wasn’t a chapter heading, but it was obvious it was a typed-out manuscript. I flipped through finding at least two hundred pages, all typed out in a small twelve-point font, each page filled to the brim with content.
Lindy Parker’s words.
I knew it was her writing the moment I started reading the first line.
It was a work in progress. I never thought I’d get to experience reading Lindy’s words for the first time again.
Something hit my chest. A painful yet grateful feeling so powerful it felt like a physical weight. My eyes watered, and I reached up to wipe a tear that fell onto my cheek.
“Oh my gosh,” I whispered, flipping to the next page.
I couldn’t help but feel emotional. This was a gift.
A gift I didn’t even know I could receive. And with how he felt about his mother, it made me feel like maybe he’d stepped outside his comfort zone to find this and give it to me.
I didn’t care that it was eleven o’clock.
I took the manuscript into my room and stayed up to read the entire thing.