Page 65 of The Lodge

Good idea. Also—you’re still up for me coming to visit, then? You’re not too busy with work?

ALIX

3:37PM

I’m behind at the moment but let me see how things go over the next few days. Plan on it for now!

CHLOE

3:37PM

Perfect! Yeah, just keep me posted. FYI, I think I’m going to block your sister’s number… she just texted again to see if I got her message

ALIX

3:38PM

Wish I could do the same sometimes, honestly.

20

I spend the day engrossed in my work, camping out at the café for far longer than I mean to. Makenna brings me a fruit and cheese platter at one point, along with a flaky butter croissant.

I write and I write and I write, trying my very best to do justice to Sebastian’s perspective without letting my own spill out onto the page.

I haven’t heard from him since our video call—he never responded to my text asking when he might want to meet up here in Vermont.

Now, though, I’m thinking a face-to-face meeting might be a very bad idea.

What if he and Tyler see each other? Aside from the obvious, that their relationship was nothing but contentious, it would put me in an extremely awkward position: both of them would find out I’ve been keeping secrets.

That the book I’m writing is about Tyler’s biggest rival and the band that made his life miserable.

That I know exactly where Jett Beckett ended up but haven’t breathed a word about it to Sebastian, even though the mystery has tormented him for years.

That I would be inviting Sebastian straight to Tyler’s doorstep, knowing full well how it could risk—couldruin—the privacy Tyler sacrificed his whole life for.

But.

A huge reason I’m here at all is so Sebastian and I have a private place to meet up in person. I feel professionally obligated to touch base with him, even if it’s only to tell him I’m making good progress and that sticking to video calls is perfectly fine with me. And if he insists on coming? I have a feeling he won’t—but at least I could plan around it, if so. Get Tyler to leave while he’s here, make sure Chloe schedules her visit for some other time.

Hi, Sebastian, I type out.Wanted to check in and see if you’ve figured out yet when you might want to meet up here in Vermont? If you have too much going on, I think another video call or two would suffice… the book is coming along well!

Predictably, he does not write back right away.

I set my phone down and look up to find the sky has grown dark outside the panoramic window. There are no other customers in the café—I’m the only one spending her Saturday night on a date with her laptop, apparently.

My phone buzzes on the table. Could Sebastian really have written back so soon?

Of course not.

It’s Tyler, and his text makes me smile.

Meant to check in much earlier, but I’ve been booked solid. How’s the wrist?

My stomach growls so loudly he probably heard it all the way back at his penthouse. The cheese and fruit and croissant werelovely—but they were just enough to trick me into thinking I’d had an actual dinner and not just a glorified snack plate.

Also, it’s past nine o’clock, and that snack was four hours ago.

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