Page 22 of March

“I know. And it’s not like I think anything is going to happen. Sometimes, though, when I’m there and it’s late, I just stay. We’ve fallen asleep on the sofa a few times, and once, she just told me to stay over, and we fell asleep in the bed. I realize she’s not at all interested in more, so I’m not getting my hopes up or anything, but it’s still nice.”

“But this new woman…” Bryce changed the subject, thinking she was going to kill Kelsey later.

“She’s great,” Megan replied with a smile. “I need help picking out what to wear, and I need you two to tell me what to do. What if she wants me to come inside? God, what if shedoesn’t? Does that mean the date wasn’t good?”

“Calm down,” Sean told her softly and then wrapped an arm around Megan’s shoulders. “We’ll help you. And no, it doesn’t mean that. If she asks you inside, assume it’s for a drink or to keep talking. Nothing more. If it goes there, and you want to go there, too, take it there. But if you don’t want to, or she doesn’t, you wait. Simple.”

“Saysyou. I’ve been in love with my straight best friend for years. No one has compared to Kels.”

“Damn,” Sean replied.

She’d likely not known how deep Megan’s feelings were for Kelsey, but Bryce had, so this wasn’t news to her.

“Megs, you’ll be fine. You are smart and beautiful, and clearly, she loves talking to you since you spent hours doing that last night. Just play it by ear, okay?” she chimed in.

“Yeah, okay,” Megan said unconvincingly. “Oh, I saw your blog, by the way. I can’t believe you put that out there.”

“Told ya,” Sean pointed out.

“You think it was a bad idea, too?” she asked.

“What? No. I think it’s sweet and romantic. I just meant that it was very brave of you to do that, to tell the world that story.”

“It’s really picking up, too. I’ve gotten a thousand new subscribers today alone.”

“What? Seriously?” Sean asked.

“Yeah. And it’s gotten more comments than probably the last year of food blogs combined.”

“That’s cool, Bry,” Megan replied.

“People are asking for an update,” Bryce added.

“There’s not one,” Sean said.

“Well, not really. But there are more details I can share, I guess.”

“You’re going to post again?” Megan asked.

Bryce looked at Sean for a second and replied, “Yeah, I think so.”

???

When Bryce got home from lunch with her friends, she sat at her computer and wondered what she could say to the people who were asking for more. It had been less than twenty-four hours since her post, so it wasn’t as if she’d found Sophie and raninto her open arms, but she felt compelled to write about it, so she started typing.

I never expected the response I’ve gotten so far about my post called ‘One Night in New Orleans, I Fell in Love.’ It’s been less than twenty-four hours, and people are asking for an update. The truth is that I don’t have an update for you, but I can tell you something I told my friend today. It’s the first time I’ve told anyone, and it may not be a big deal, but one of my best friends, who is the sweetest girl on the planet, met someone yesterday. She really likes her, and I’m so excited for her, but hearing her talk about it and seeing her so happy got me thinking about how much I want that, too, and how I can’t seem to picture it with anyone other than this woman I met randomly a year ago in a bar.

What’s the thing I’ve never told anyone? Silly, really, but I did more in my search to find Sophie than I told you yesterday. I bought plane tickets. I never went back to New Orleans, though. Five plane tickets, to be exact, and I only got one refund. I talked myself out of it every time. With the first one, I canceled the flight right after I bought it. Another two times, I waited until two days before the flight and canceled. The fourth time, I actually checked myself in, and I stared at the flight time on my phone, counting down the minutes, but I didn’t go to the airport. And the fifth time, I went all the way there and left before I got through security.

Every time, I talked myself out of going. At first, I just told myself that I didn’t even know where Sophie was or how I could find her, so I shouldn’t even bother. I told myself that she’s not still thinking about me how I am about her, and it would be really awkward if we did find each other somehow. She’d tell me that the night was fun but not life-changing for her, and I’d leave more heartbroken than when I’d arrived. At the airportthat one time, I got out of my Uber and went straight to the security line where the TSA agent asked me for my boarding pass, and I just stood there, frozen. I couldn’t get on the plane. I knew what I risked if I did and never found her. The pain would be worse for me than it was living with the not knowing what could have been, so I went back home and tried to think of anything else.

That was two months ago. I realize that Sophie is probably with someone else. In my vision of this trip back, I’d planned on camping out at that bar day and night until my flight back home. I thought if I did that, and she never showed, that that would be it, and I could actually move on, but I chickened out. I thought it was better not to know than to know that she’s moved on and risk that kind of pain, but I’m starting to think I was wrong. I’m starting to believe that I’d rather know if it didn’t mean as much to her, or that maybe it did, but she’s with someone else already and happy with them. At least then, I’d know, and I might finally be able to put that night behind me.

Bryce checked for typos this time and hit publish. She sat at her computer and checked the analytics, seeing a near-instant spike in views on the new post. That was likely due to the fact that the blog subscribers got a notification whenever she posted. She went to grab something to drink, and when she came back to her computer, the spike had continued, and she had numerous social notifications on her phone. She also had a text message from Kelsey, which she decided to check first.

Kelsey Jenkins: Megs met someone?

CHAPTER 9

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