Page 64 of The Accidental Text

“Indeed.” I nod my head. I will not give in. Chelsea will never know how Chase really ended up coming to the party.

Chelsea twists her lips to the side, thinking. “You don’t think he was one of those creepy party crashers, do you?”

“No,” I say, sounding offended. I feel like I need to defend Chase, which is silly. “He’s genuinely interested in getting his car wrapped.”

“Who wants his car wrapped?” Devon says, moving into my office doorway, next to Chelsea.

“Chase,” I say.

“Oh, yeah. That guy,” Devon says.

Thank goodness Devon showed up. He can vouch for Chase and then Chelsea can get off my back.

“You met him?” she asks.

“Yeah,” he says. “Nice guy … buying a Lexus.”

“LC five hundred,” I add.

“Right,” he says, pointing at me. “Why are you asking?” He turns to Chelsea.

“I saw him holding Maggie’s hand,” Chelsea says, a very tattletale tone to her voice.

Devon pulls his chin inward and squints his eyes at me. “He held your hand?”

“He was just comforting me during Dad’s speech.”

“Oh.” Devon nods, totally accepting this answer. Of course he would; he’s a guy. Men know that holding hands is not asbig of a deal to them as it is to women. Not that I read anything into Chase holding my hand the way he did. It was comfort. A gesture of understanding.

“Also, his mom passed away not that long ago. So … he gets it.”

“Oh,” Chelsea says, her facial expression changing to a more sympathetic one. Maybe I should have led with this.

“That sucks,” says Devon.

“Yeah,” I agree.

Silence lands on the room. I recognize the empathetic look on Devon’s and Chelsea’s faces.

“How are we all feeling about June?” I finally say, hoping to change the subject, but also wanting to know. My dad hasn’t come in yet today, so I feel comfortable speaking freely.

Devon shrugs. “It’s … whatever.”

“I don’t love it,” Chelsea says.

“Me neither.”

There’s a knock on the wall behind Chelsea’s head. Devon turns. “Dawson,” he says with that bro voice of his.

“Just came to talk to Maggie,” Dawson says. I can barely see his face over the top of Chelsea’s shoulder.

Devon and Chelsea excuse themselves, and Chelsea gives me a look that says,We aren’t done talking about thisbefore leaving.

“Hey,” I say as Dawson walks into my office. He’s back in his coveralls. I miss that charcoal-gray suit he wore to the party. It was a sight to behold. He looks good in his work attire too. It just leaves a lot more to the imagination than that suit did.

The image of Natasha’s arms wrapped around him pops up in my head. They left together at the end of the party. I guess they must be back together. Surprisingly, I didn’t get thatsinking feeling in my gut when I saw them walking hand in hand toward the parking lot.

That’s not true. My stomach did a full plummet. But then Chase made a joke about Fluffy Barbie and I got over it.

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