Page 37 of March

She hit send and regretted it because that was a stupid response to Sophie’s heartfelt message. Anxiously awaiting a reply, Bryce took a long pull from the beer in front of her, not knowing if it was Kelsey’s, Megan’s, or her own. Then, she just sat there and stared down at her email app until another message came through.

Bryce,

It’s really me. The cameras in these bars barely work most of the time, and if they did, they wouldn’t have sound. I drank a beer that Jill had gotten for me. You had something in a red cup that I didn’t see. I told you I was from New Orleans but that I had lived in Brooklyn and gone to New York for college. You said you lived in Tennessee but failed to mention a city. Thanks for that, by the way. Could’ve helped me find you a little easier. You told me about your food blog, but there is no blog by Bryce about food that I could find online. Trust me, I looked. You wore a black button-down and gray pants. I had on a blazer because I’d planned to ask my friend, Monica, for a job that night and had failed to do that. Is that enough? Does that convince you? Maybe this will if that doesn’t. When we kissed, you pressed into me, and I rocked back into you. You tasted a little like pineapple and rum and something else that was probably just you. I don’t think security cameras would’ve told me all that.

Your Sophie

“It’s her,” Bryce said to herself, finally allowing her heart to believe it.

CHAPTER 13

Sophie was sitting in yet another unnecessary meeting. It was her third of the day and during lunch, which meant she was starving. They hadn’t brought lunch in for them because that would mean they actually cared enough about their employees to make sure they ate. On top of that, the meeting was going long. It was supposed to only be an hour, but it was bordering on two at this point, and the manager making a presentation, her boss, was only on his twentieth slide, which she could see was out of thirty.

Sophie silently prayed that the last ten slides were some appendices that they could all review on their own time and that he wasn’t also about to go through them, but then, he clicked, and they were on slide twenty-one, and there was no sign of said appendix. She was used to this. They had at least two to three meetings like this a week, and normally, they didn’t bother her because she could sit back, relax, and daydream. She didn’t actually need to pay attention, so she could picture herself at another company, working in a job she actually loved. Some meetings, for the first few years at least, she’d pictured herself having sex with a nameless and faceless woman. That helped get her through. The woman would be everything Sophie wanted and needed in bed. They would wake up together after, and she’d make them coffee. They’d arrange another date, andduring these two-hour meetings, she could sometimes see that daydream through all the way to their wedding day or even to them with twins in cribs. Yes, there were twins, and they were identical. Sometimes, they were boys, and other times, they were girls. During the particularly boring meetings, she’d even give them names, and she’d picture taking care of them with her wife. Sometimes, the twins were cute and quiet, and she and her wife were perfect parents. Other times, the babies wouldn’t stop crying, and they had to change diapers and were exhausted. Even in Sophie’s dreams, there was still an element of realism.

As the presenter moved on to slide twenty-two, which was a solid slide of text that no one could read because it was in fourteen-point font, Sophie knew that the reason today’s meeting was driving her absolutely crazy was that she’d been messaging with Bryce all night and all day so far. It was email after email, which was strange, but neither of them had asked for a phone number yet in order to text or call, and as much as Sophie wanted to hear Bryce’s voice or see her on FaceTime, this felt right for now. They hadn’t had enough time to get to know one another before, and email gave them both a little space. She wasn’t sure why it felt that way, but texting could be intrusive, and it was far too easy to reply constantly. Email involved more, and she could take her time to respond if they were discussing something that she needed to think about. She wondered if Bryce felt the same way since she hadn’t asked for Sophie’s number, either.

Over an hour ago, she’d felt her phone, which she had left on vibrate instead of on silent like she normally did during meetings, shake in her pocket. It had been a short shake. Well, it had been three short shakes, which she’d set to mean that she’d gotten an email notification when she’d first gotten the phone. A half hour ago, she had felt those three short shakes again, andwhile that could have been spam, she suspected it was Bryce sending her a follow-up email.

It was cute, Sophie thought as they moved on to slide twenty-three, which was a picture of a pie chart that she knew her boss had no idea how to read because he was trying to explain that the green section represented new clients when it was actually the yellow one. Tuning him out, she went back to thinking about Bryce’s emails. Because Sophie had sent her two in the beginning, they’d somehow ended up with multiple email threads that they had silently agreed to keep going for some reason. Sophie smiled because she liked that. She liked that Bryce had felt compelled to respond to the first email Sophie had sent her, too, so that it wouldn’t feel left out or alone.

“Sophie, did you have a question?”

“What?”

“You made a sound. Did you have a question?”

Her boss was staring at her expectantly.

“Oh, no,” she said. “Sorry.”

She’d made a sound? What sound had she made? She’d been thinking about their first kiss. Had she moaned? Gasped? The rest of the room wasn’t looking at her, so that was, thankfully, unlikely. She returned her attention to slide twenty-four and prayed for him to wrap things up soon. When he finally and blissfully reached slide thirty, which was just a giant question mark, Sophie looked around the room.

“Any questions?” her boss asked.

Sophie closed her eyes and prayed for no questions. The presentation was very clear, considering he had read exactly what was on the slides, and her boss had corrected the whole green versus yellow fiasco with the pie chart. No one should have any questions.

“I was wondering if you could go back to slide thirteen,” someone said.

Sophie was going to murder someone in this room by the end of the day. She would never meet Bryce in person again because she would be in jail for homicide. Maybe Bryce would come visit her or something. She glared at the guy who hadn’t thought to ask questions about slide thirteen when they wereonslide thirteen.

“I need to go to the bathroom,” she stated as she stood.

“But we’re doing the Q&A,” her boss said.

“I don’t have any questions or answers,” she replied and pushed her chair under the table.

She reallydidhave to go to the bathroom because they had been trapped in that room for over two hours now, and she’d finished her coffee just before the meeting. She hadn’t gone then because she’d been too busy responding to Bryce’s email to even notice that the meeting was about to start, and she’d been regretting that decision for well over an hour now. She made her way to the bathroom, which was a single-stall situation, locked the door, let out a giant breath, and pulled out her phone.

Sophie,

I think Kelsey might have a thing for Megan. Either that, or she’s just being really clingy to her right now. Megan met someone recently, and they’re dating. Kels seems to be spending more and more time with Megs, too. I mean, it’s not like they didn’t spend time together before, but Megs told Sean and me about them apparently falling asleep on sofas and in Kelsey’s bed one time after watching movies. As far as I know, they’ve never done that in the past, but Megs told me the other day that they’ve been doing that for about six months now. I’m crazy to think that Kelsey would be considering her feelings, right? She’s always dated guys and said that she’s straight. I want to respect that because that’s important, but I’ve seen her lately with Megan, and they feel very much like a couple.

Bryce

Sophie smiled as she pulled up the second email.

Sophie,

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