Page 41 of March

“Do you want to kiss Megs?” Bryce asked seriously.

“I think so,” Kelsey said with the softest smile Bryce had ever seen. “She’s so soft, Bry. I held her one night when she slept over. I didn’t even do it on purpose. When I woke up,my arm was around her, and my hand was under her shirt on her stomach. Megs made this cute little sound and rested back against me, and I thought about how soft she was and how good she smelled.”

“Guys aren’t soft or smell good?” Bryce joked.

“You’ve slept with them.Arethey?”

Bryce laughed and said, “It’s been a very long time. I’ve tried to push all those times out of my memory.”

“It’s dangerous for me, to have feelings for her.”

“No, it’s dangerous if you’re not careful; if you don’t think about Megs and just go to her house and blurt them out without thinking about the fact that she’s at least dating someone.”

“I’m not going to tell her,” Kelsey replied. “I don’t even think that I have anythingtotell her.”

“Sounds like you have some more thinking to do.”

“Yes. And right now, I’m thinking that she’s avoiding me, and I hate it, but I don’t know what to do about it because I knowwhyshe’s doing it,” Kelsey grunted.

“Sorry, Kels. I’m not sure I have good advice here.”

“It’s fine. Let’s focus on your thing. Believe it or not, that might be easier to handle now that you’ve found her. Has Sophie replied yet?” Kelsey leaned over Bryce, who opened the app on her phone.

“Yeah,” she replied. “She said yesterday.”

“That’s it?”

“No.” Bryce laughed. “I asked her when I could visit, and she said yesterday but then added whenever I can get away.”

“You can get away whenever. You blog for a living,” Kelsey said.

“Want to help me buy a plane ticket?”

“Oh, Icanbe helpful, actually.” Kelsey pulled out her own phone. “I have a free ticket for anywhere from when my flight gotoverbooked and I got booted to the next day. You can take it. I’m not going to use it, and it expires soon.”

“Really?”

“Yes. And because I’m a platinum member, I even have a few upgrades, so if you’re interested, I could try to fly you there in style. Consider it my contribution to your love story.”

“We don’t know if it’s love yet,” Bryce said. “But that would be amazing. Thanks, Kels.”

“Yeah.”

Kelsey focused on opening the airline app while Bryce stared at her. It sounded like her friend might be struggling with something she wasn’t prepared to address yet, and Bryce could understand that. She’d had the same struggle years ago that led her to dating Sean and meeting her three best friends in the world. She and Sean hadn’t spoken since dinner, but Bryce knew the woman, so she understood that she needed some space. Bryce would give that to her. She didn’t want to hurt Sean in the same way Kelsey didn’t want to hurt Megan, but she also had to see this Sophie thing through. She had to know if she and Sophie were supposed to be more than one night in a bar. She’d do that without filling Sean in, hoping to lessen the blow. She’d already gotten a ton of comments about how people were waiting for an update to her story on her blog, but Sean read it, so she’d give it some time; at least while she and Sophie were still trying to determine what they were to one another or what they could be.

She messaged Sophie back and told her she was looking up flights now. Kelsey booked her one, which sadly wasn’t for yesterday, but it was the only flight they could find that had a seat to New Orleans available this time of year.

Kelsey left not long after, but even though Bryce wasn’t leaving today or tomorrow, she rushed to her bedroom, pulled out her suitcase, and started packing. At first, she just threw clothes into the bag. Then, she looked quizzically at what shehad tossed in and shook her head. She pulled everything out and repacked it with better options. She did that three more times before she finally felt like she had good options for day and night, cold and hot, fancy and casual, and went back out to the living room, where she picked up her phone and found a reply from Sophie.

My Bryce,

When you have it booked, send me all the information. I want to try to pick you up if I can. I might have to work. I don’t know. But if I can, I’ll be there. I’ll be the woman in the blazer with a sign that has your name on it and some flowers. Do you like flowers? Should I do the flowers thing? Maybe the sign is enough? You tell me.

Your Sophie

Bryce laughed and messaged back.

My Sophie,

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