Page 19 of The Accidental Text

“And I don’t know how … to feel like myself.”

Devon nods again.

“I really miss myself, you know? The … old me.”

Devon nods yet again.

I look at him, and he looks back at me. I can tell by the look on his face that he’s not here to offer me any words of wisdom or comfort.

Well. At least I tried.

I take a breath. “What have you been up to?”

I’ve learned with Devon, if all else fails, talk abouthim. It’s probably his favorite topic.

Devon reaches up and scratches the back of his neck. “Just work.”

“Any new women in your life?” I don’t know why I ask this. I don’t really want to know.

“Funny you should ask,” he says, a mischievous look on his face.

“No,” I say, knowing exactly where he’s going with that.

“Why?”

“We’ve already gone over this. You’re not dating Robin. I told you the rules.” I give him my death stare.

I knew when I hired Robin that she’d be on Devon’s radar. She’s his type: petite, blonde. So before she even started, I had words with him about keeping his paws off. Except for her being a lunch date stealer, I like Robin and she does a great job.

I think I made things worse, though. Devon has only had eyes for her since she started. It’s like keeping her off-limits made her even more attractive. The forbidden fruit.

“Sorry, Devon, it’s not happening.”

“Fine,” he says. “How’s Hannah?” The corner of his mouth lifts up, a sly look.

I give him another death stare. Hannah is also off-limits. Although I should really let him try. She’d eat him alive. But there’s that .0001 percent chance that he’d get through her walls and get past her dislike of men, and I’m not willing to take that chance. Don’t get me wrong, I want Hannah to find someone, just not my player brother.

Devon holds his hands up, palms toward me. “I know, I know,” he says. He stands up from his chair. “I’ll keep your dumb rules.”

“Thank you.”

“See you tomorrow,” he says as he leaves.

“Thanks for the chat,” I say, my tone oozing sarcasm.

I’m not sure why Chelsea thought sending Devon to talk to me was a good idea. This time her delegation skills are sorely lacking.

Chapter 7

I’m getting ready for work when my phone beeps, telling me I have a text.

It’s been a week since Robin snatched my lunch date, and now it would seem that Robin and Dawson are athing. Yep. There is, without a doubt, a thing happening between the two of them.

So Hannah was right—he didn’t stay single for long, and now I can go back to my regularly scheduled pining. It’s fine. This is a more comfortable place for me, sitting on the sidelines.

The truth is, I’m not in the best place myself. So why was I even bothering? I’m still in the midst of my grief, still not feeling like myself, still being a chicken. I also still have to jump out of a plane in two months and haven’t even tried to think about that lately.

I’ve got to fix myself first. I still have no idea how to do that.

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