Page 47 of Beautiful Broken Love

“Okay—maybe you’re right. But when it came to the party, I think he was genuinely concerned, so he checked in. I told you he lost his brother, right? And he knows about Lew. Maybe he just wanted to be nice.”

Tish pursed her lips and rolled her eyes.

“What?” I asked. “What are you not saying?”

“How long have you two been talking to each other?”

“He reached out around the time you sent the email about me taking a week off. He sent his condolences, but it’s like ever since then, we haven’t really stopped staying in touch with each other. It’s been a few weeks now. And it was okay at first, you know? Just harmless. But he just sent me his number today. Look.”

I unlocked my phone and showed her the email. Tish read it, then took the phone from me to scroll through all the others.

“Tish!” I laughed.

She lowered the phone and looked into my eyes. “He likes you, Vina.”

“No,” I moaned. “Don’t say that.” I pressed the heel of my palm to my forehead.

“Oh my goodness, Vina, this is just like a rom-com movie where two people coincidentally meet each other and they start getting to know each other through love notes or text messages. Iloveshit like this!”

I leaned forward to snatch my phone out of her hand. “I think it’s nice that he cares and that he checks in to make sure I’m okay, but I’ve already told him we can only be friends. I’m not looking for anything more than that right now. I just feel bad because I don’t want to text him.”

“Why? Because you know it’ll lead to something you can’t resist?”

I opened my mouth but clamped it shut again.

Tish smirked. “Listen, he’s aman, Davina. You think he gives a fuck about thatjust friendsthing? In your last email you said something along the lines of him entertaining other women, but if you take a step back and look at the bigger picture, a man like Deke Bishop can’t entertain more than one woman at a time. At least not with emails and texting. He’s a busy person who is constantly on the move. I doubt he has time to sit around emailing a bunch of women all day and night, but he makes the time in his schedule foryou. Do you see what I’m getting at here?”

“Nope, sure don’t,” I said as she stood up with her empty plastic cup.

“All I know is for a man who isfamous, with a schedule as hectic as his, that means something. People make time for the things they want, Davina. If he’s finding time to send your favorite flowers, to email you for weeks just to stay in touch,andto find you near fountains during parties, that’s more than friendly territory, even if you don’t want to admit it. Just give him your damn number already, girl. It won’t kill you.” Tish walked around the ottoman to reach thekitchen, and while she refilled her cup with red soda, my heart sank to my stomach.

She was right, but I still couldn’t bring myself to text him.

Instead, I darkened the screen of my phone and figured I’d take a step back from whatever this thing was Deke and I had going on.

TWENTY-FIVE

From: Deke Bishop

To: Davina Klein-Roberts

July 15

Been three days since I heard from you. Everything good?

From: Deke Bishop

To: Davina Klein-Roberts

July 17

If I’ve offended you somehow, I apologize. Just wanna hear from you, D. Make sure you’re okay.

From: Davina Klein-Roberts

To: Deke Bishop

July 18

---