Page 62 of The Accidental Text

He pulls his chin back. “I have my own place in Tempe.”

This takes a chink out of Hannah’s armor. Her shoulders fall a minuscule amount.

It’s also something I didn’t know about Chase, but I probably shouldn’t call attention to that and give Hannah any extra fodder. There’s still so much I don’t know about him.

“Do you have a job?” She eyes him warily.

“I work at SurveyWave. In sales.”

“I know that place,” she says. “My friend Ally Hawkins works there.”

Chase’s brows shoot up. “I know Ally; I worked in her department up until I got a promotion last month. She’s great.”

“Her dad works at my mom’s firm,” she says to me when I give her questioning eyes.

Hannah pulls her phone out of the top of her dress. I hold back my lecture about how unsafe that is, but tuck it away for later. Right now is not the best time.

She texts something, her thumbs moving rapidly over her keyboard.

I scrunch my face at her. What’s she doing?

“So, Chase in sales, how long have you worked for SurveyWave?” she asks once she’s finished texting.

“Two years,” he says.

“And do you plan on staying with them for a while?”

“Hannah, Chase is not on trial,” I say.

“I plan on it,” Chase answers her, and then gives me that signature half-smile of his. Like he doesn’t mind this and can handle Hannah. “I’m still training. I’m going to London in May to train there for a while.”

“You are?” I ask, feeling my brows pulling inward.

“Yeah, for like six months,” he says.

Six months? My heart drops a little at this. I don’t know why.It’s just that … well, Chase and I only met officially tonight. I think I’d like to hang out with him more. There’s an instant comfort with Chase that I haven’t felt in a long time. It could be our shared bond of being motherless. But it feels like more than that. And now he’s leaving?

Hannah’s phone starts to ding in rapid succession and she looks down at it. Her eyes widen as she scrolls through the multiple texts she’s just received.

“Well, Chase,” Hannah says, “it appears you have a fan in Ally.”

She shows the phone to me.

Ally:I ADORE Chase!

Ally:One of the best guys you’ll meet!

Ally:Tell him hi for me!

Ally:Tell him that his old dept misses him!

Ally:Give him a hug for me!

There are hearts and heart eyes all over the texts. I find it hard to believe that Hannah is friends with this person. If Hannah ever sent me heart eyes, I’d think her phone was stolen or she’d been kidnapped. Actually, I’d know it.

I read the texts aloud and then look over at Chase, who’s now focused on the floor, his lips curled up just slightly, the tips of his ears turning pink. He’s cute when he’s embarrassed.

“I’m not hugging you,” Hannah says.

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