Page 110 of Accidentally Amy

Izzy:Gawwwwwwwwd. Get your ass over here, Chest.

Blake:No car and meeting at one, remember?

Izzy:Yes, that’s right. Listen, don’t take this the wrong way, Phillips, but I can’t wait to see you at 5. I’m literally counting the hours until I can pick you up. Weird, right?

Blake:Absolutely bizarre, yet I feel the exact same way. I think we might’ve eaten spoiled meat or something.

Izzy:For sure. This whole thing is either love or spoiled meat.

Blake:Well, then—I spoiled meat you.

Izzy:I spoiled meat you, too.

Blake

11:45 a.m.

I pressed the buzzer and waited.

And waited.

I knew she was home because my car was parked out front, but she wasn’t answering the door.

I texted,What are you doing?

Izzy:Job applications.

Blake:Aren’t you going to answer the door?

Izzy:That’s you??

Blake:Yup.

The door opened and there she was, looking at me with a crinkle between her eyebrows. “What are you doing here?”

I straightened from my doorway lean and held out the bouquet of daisies. “My one fifteen meeting was canceled, so I decided to take the afternoon off. Pizza’s on the way.”

She kept squinting at me. “Who was the meeting with?”

“Brad,” I said.

“Why did he cancel?”

“He didn’t,” I said, wondering what she was thinking as her blue eyes moved all over my face. “I did.”

“You canceled your meeting.” Her face changed then, morphing from confusion to straight-up fucking sunshine. Her nose crinkled and her eyes squinted and her lips slid into a huge grin. “Get your ass in here, Chest.”

She grabbed the flowers and went inside. I followed.

“I’m going to get a vase for these,” she said, walking toward the kitchen. “Be right back.”

I started to follow, but she stopped, put out a hand, and said, “You can turn on the TV or something. I’ll be right back.”

“Oh-kay,” I said, watching as she disappeared into the other room.

I paced around the living room for a minute, but I couldn’t ignore the noises from the kitchen. It sounded like she was chasing a mouse or something, like she was running and bumping into walls and knocking things over.

I quietly approached the doorway, and then I got that feeling in my chest again, the pinch, only it was the hardest it’d ever pinched. That fucking pinching feeling nearly brought tears to my eyes as I watched her try to hide…everything.

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