Page 76 of Just a Distraction

Benson and I talk for a while longer. As far as surprise half-brothers go, he’s not too bad. He’s a solid guy. And now that Callum is in my life, I can appreciate the way Benson lights up when he sees that his kids are calling him for a video chat to say goodnight.

I excuse myself to go finish the installment that I need to upload before morning.

Is that going to be me? Am I going to be on video calls with Callum and Rose in a few months? I hope so, since that’s the only way this is going to work between us. It’s the only thing I can do.

Maybe Benson can help me understand how to go on functioning when the people you love live so far away.

Nerves press over me, weighing down the back of my neck.

Because I’d like to transfer to the Tate International’s Chapel Hill location come fall. The thing is, my MFA program isn’t online, it’s in person. There’s a waiting list a mile long, so I doubt they’d let me defer. I want my MFA, but I want Rose, too.

There is no one in my life who can give me advice about this problem because no one even knows I’ve been accepted into Greenleaf.

A lonely sort of grief grips me. I could just go tell Benson everything.

And even though he could probably give me some good advice about a lot of things, I can’t. Not yet.

Besides, I don’t know of a single soul who could tell me how to deal with what I’m about to do in my manuscript.

All I know is, this is long overdue.

Chapter 30

Rose

“Thoughts of you drift into my consciousness, and I’m lost, Zehma. When you glance at me, time stops. You are a harmless canopy. You’ve parched my thirst. You are my everything.”

My jaw drops open.

What?

No. It can’t be a coincidence. This passage, something that Balthor says to Zehma, is nearly word for word what Milo wrote to me.

And Milo wrote it to me days ago.

Thaddeus Blackthorn only posted this last night, just before midnight.

Thaddeus Blackthorn could have gotten ahold of that letter and plagiarized it. Milo could have stolen the passage fromThaddeus’s manuscript. Maybe they’re somehow in the same critique group or something.

Zehma of the Night Lochisn’t a romance. But the romantic elements are strong—a nice addition to the epic journey of Zehma and Balthor.

My heart gallops when I read what Balthor says to her. Far more romantic than any romance novel I’ve ever read.

I’m going to be late for work and am frantically trying to Callum get dressed.

My mind is searching for an explanation and there is one. It’s hiding in a corner of my brain, unwilling to come out. But I feel it like a phantom pain.

No.That’snot possible.

My whole body tingles with apprehension and wonder as I drive up the canyon to work, the morning sun brilliantly warming the cool spring air. I drop Callum off at Childcare, get to my desk to go over emails, and spend the next hour trying not to bother myself with this. I’m at work, for heaven’s sake. I need to stop thinking about this.

But I can’t, and finally, by ten a.m., I’ve had enough. I know what the only logical explanation is, but I need him to say it.

I take my break early and slip a piece of old unicorn stationary out from under a pile of papers on my desk. I still haven’t had the time or money for fancy paper or a fancy wax seal, but that’s okay. I’ll let Milo be the cool letter writer.

Heisvery good at writing letters.

Dear Milo,

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