Page 62 of The Moment We Know

“Was this ‘minor’ misunderstanding your fault, or hers?”

“Neither.”

“I don’t believe you. So, if you want my help, I’m going to have to know what you did to cause this ‘minor’ misunderstanding.”

“I just told you neither one of us caused it.”

“I know. But you’re here looking for Paige and knocking on her door, which leads me to believe you’re most likely the one behind this ‘minor’ misunderstanding. Now, I’ll admit I can’t be absolutely certain, but that’s the direction the compass is pointing.” She looked at him over her silver-rimmed glasses. “Plus, she’s the sweetest girl in the world.”

David took a deep breath. “Look. All I can tell you is that we were having—” he stopped and cleared his throat before continuing with, “—a nice time. I’m not even sure what the misunderstanding was, to be honest. I’d like to find out though, which is why I’m here looking for her and knocking on her door, because she’s not returning my calls or texts. So, whatever is going on … I’m worried about her. And I don’t want to park myself here because there’s a chance she’ll return to my place, and I want to be there if she does. But if she comes here instead, it would help if you could let me know, so I could come back here and fix whatever is wrong.”

Expecting her to tell him to pound sand, the barracuda surprised him by saying, “All right. I can do that.”

“You will? Oh, my God, thank you. So much.”

“You’re welcome.”

Feeling as if he had just cleared a major hurdle, he asked, “Do you have a phone?”

“Of course I have a phone. I’m not a Luddite.”

“I just meant … I was going to give you my number so you could put it in your phone.”

“You should’ve just led off with that, Romeo. What’s your number?”

He blinked at her, because she clearly didn’t have her phone with her, and she must have misinterpreted his expression, because she prompted, “Your number? You do know what it is, correct?”

“Yes, I know what my number is.”

“Then what is it?”

“Um, do you want to go get your phone, first?”

“Um, no, I don’t. I’m quite capable of remembering your phone number, so putting it in my phone would be a waste of time.”

David honestly didn’t know how Paige got along with this woman, but she was willing to do him a favor, so he forced a smile and recited his phone number, hoping for the best.

Mrs. Harte repeated it back without hesitation, then repeated it two more times, as if to prove a point. “I’ll let you know if I hear her come home.”

“Thank you,” he said, just as his phone alerted him to an incoming text. Pulling it from his pants pocket, he saw it was from Paige and quickly read it.

PAIGE: Where are you?

Releasing a huge sigh of relief, he quickly replied.

DAVID: I’m at your place. Where are you?

PAIGE: At your place. I just got back.

DAVID: Good. Stay there. I’ll see you in a few minutes.

Then, after pocketing his phone, he told Mrs. Harte, “Never mind. She’s at my place,” before turning and running down the hall like Jesse Owens going for the gold.

Chapter 25

David shut the door behind him, then locked it and listened to the silence in the loft. “Paige?” he called out loudly.

“I’m in your bedroom.”

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