Page 57 of March

“Sophie?” Bryce said into the phone.

“Bryce, I’m so sorry. God, I–”

“What happened? Are you okay? I’ve been worried,” Bryce interrupted.

“It’s a long story, but I got stuck at work. I didn’t have my phone. My stupid boss took it like I’m in high school and texting in class. Where are you?”

“About to get kicked out of a place called Big Shrimps because I’m taking up a table, and I’ve finished eating.”

“Big Shrimps… Big Shrimps… Oh! I know where that is. Stay there. Don’t move.”

“They want the table, Sophie,” Bryce replied, sounding irritated and no longer worried. “I think I’m going to go back to my hotel. I’m not exactly up for a night out anymore.”

“Bryce, please…” Sophie said softly. “I promise you that I will explain what happened. I just need to get to you. I’m at work, and I look awful, but I’ll be there soon. Can you get to the bar, please?”

“I don’t even know the name of the place, Sophie. I tried to find it, but the streets are even more crowded than last year. I can barely get inside some of them.”

“I’m going to send you the name and the address. Will you please meet me there?”

“Maybe we should just take this as a sign, Soph,” Bryce suggested. “We’ve waited a year for this. And I get that work is important, but you couldn’t even text me back to let me know you were stuck there? Maybe that says this isn’t–”

“Bryce, it says nothing. I just quit my job.”

“What?”

“The damn meeting kept going long, and they took our phones. It was a whole big thing. He told us that we had to be focused on the meeting and that phones had to be off or on silent. We had to put them in a box. I couldn’t message you. I didn’t even know that you’d messaged. I mean, I assumed that you had, but I couldn’t get to my phone to do anything about it. When I tried to go to the bathroom just so I could grab it, I got treated like a teenager who was being grounded, and I quit. I should’ve just done it before. I know I should’ve demanded my damn phone. But I didn’t want to get fired. I ended up just quitting because I couldn’t take it anymore. I’m currently staring at a box of my stuff on top of my car, which isn’t much ofanything, really. I’m still in the parking lot because I called you as soon as I could. Bryce, I should’ve left earlier. I’m so sorry.”

“You quit your job?”

“I had to. I can’t keep working there. And they were keeping me from you. I let them do that tonight for longer than I should.”

“Soph, you quit your job. You don’t have another one lined–”

“I know. I’ll worry about that tomorrow. Right now, I just need you to know that, yes, I’m scared – I am terrified, even – but I’m nottooscared. I’d never leave you somewhere waiting for me if I could control it. Bryce, please, meet me. Don’t just go back to your hotel.”

Bryce didn’t say anything for the longest moment of Sophie’s life.

“They want the table anyway. Just know that I probably smell like seafood and sweat now, but I smelled good earlier. My shirt is all wrinkled now, too. It looked better before.”

Relieved, Sophie laughed and replied, “I’m wearing my work clothes that I’ve been in since six-thirty this morning. My hair is a mess.”

“Itwillbe once I’m done running my hands through it,” Bryce told her.

“God,” Sophie said. “Yes, please.”

“Just tell me where to go, Soph. I’ve never been surrounded by so many bars in my life, and I’ve been to Broadway Street in Nashville. They all look so different but somehow the same here.”

“It’s the people. It’s better during the off-season.”

“Just get here already,” Bryce said.

“I’m texting you where to go. I’m on my way.”

“Okay,” Bryce replied.

Sophie hung up and sent Bryce a location pin. Their bar was stuck between two much larger and more popular bars, whichoften made it get overlooked unless you knew what you were looking for. Then, she messaged Bryce again with the names of those two bars to make sure she couldn’t miss it. Bryce sent her back a thumbs-up, and Sophie hoped she hadn’t ruined things.

First, she had to drop her car off at home because there would be no parking around the Quarter tonight. She also wanted to change, but knowing that Bryce had been waiting on her long enough, she parked her car and ordered an Uber to take her as close as it could to the Quarter. When she got out, she pushed through crowds to get to Bryce as quickly as she could. There was some wrestling competition in town for the week, which meant that not only did they have the usual influx of tourists due to it being Carnival season and spring break, but they also had another hundred thousand wrestling fans who wore T-shirt with cut-off sleeves and fake championship gold belts, so she had to maneuver her way through them walking down the street in large groups, yelling their favorite wrestler’s catchphrase.

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