Page 98 of In Good Company

Jude nods in agreement. “Goodbye, Luce.”

He hangs up the phone before I can respond.

For a few moments, I stare at the blank screen, wondering if I should really call Cal. Jude made it seem like Cal wants to talk to me, but what if he’s wrong? He wasn’t there. He didn’t see the light leave Cal’s eyes the way I did.

I feel nauseous. I close my eyes for a moment and let out a loud groan. For a few fleeting seconds, I felt brave about calling Cal thanks to Jude and Charlotte.

Now, I feel like I could throw up. I want to talk to him so badly, and I’m terrified he’ll ignore my call.

I wouldn’t blame him if he sent me straight to voicemail.

“Call him,” I whisper to myself as I try to hype myself up for it. I open up my contacts and scroll to his name.

I stare at his information so long his name goes blurry with unshed tears. I take a deep breath before clicking hisname. I do it quickly, not allowing for time to psych myself out of it.

My hand trembles as I press my phone to my ear.

Hope blossoms in my chest with the first ring. As soon as he answers, I’m just going to tell him I love him. There are so many things I know I need to say to him—one of them being an apology—but the first thing will be that I’m madly in love with him.

It rings again.

I let out a slow breath, trying to keep my breathing even. He’s a busy man. It’s normal for him to not answer right away.

Another ring.

Please just answer, Cal.

I know he can’t hear me, but now that I’m so close to being able to profess my love to him, I don’t want to waste another second.

I’m about to panic that he’s not going to answer my call when the phone stops ringing.

I suck in a breath of air, waiting for him to say something.

He doesn’t.

Before I can lose my confidence, I blurt out the words I should’ve said two weeks ago.

“Cal, I love you,” I begin, my words coming out so fast it probably sounds like one long word instead of a coherent sentence. “I love you so much, and I’m sorr?—”

“You’ve reached Callahan Hastings from Hastings Incorporated. Leave me a message, and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.”

There’s a beep, but I barely hear it over the thrum of my pulse in my ears.

Hoping it’s maybe a mistake, I press his name again to call back.

This time, he’ll answer.

If he sees me calling twice, he’ll understand how badly I need to talk to him.

He told me to call him anytime.

He’ll answer.

He doesn’t.

This time, it goes straight to voicemail.

My phone drops to my lap as the realization sets in.

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