Page 23 of Finally Loved

Nothing.

The only notification was about the weather tomorrow. One she was pretty sure she’d already seen and dismissed a few hours earlier.

A complicated mix of relief, disappointment, and shame flooded through her, each emotion seeming to chase the others. If she focused on any one, it burned alone, but fed the others,allowing them to take over. Embarrassment joined the cocktail. The whole thing really wasn’t that big a deal. It was a message to someone she barely knew. Sent just over half an hour ago. Many people weren’t glued to their phones. Not getting an immediate reply didn’t mean anything. And at least it meant the reply wasn’t mean or rude.

Did she really expect it to be, though?

Unable to help herself—or glutton for punishment, she couldn’t quite decide—she unlocked the phone and opened the message. Delivered, not read.

Neve had never much cared for read receipts before, paying little attention to them. Now, it felt like a lifeline. Something to cling to as she tried desperately not to be rejected. She wasn’t being ignored, Alba simply wasn’t checking her phone.

Of course, she could have turned the function off, so maybe it had been read, Neve just couldn’t see it. But that was another avenue of worrying Neve didn’t have time for.

She stared at the message, not reading it, just clinging to it. She hadn’t yet been laughed at or rejected. She didn’t yet have to live with knowing she’d humiliated herself again in front of Alba.

It was silly, so silly she hated it, but she wanted so much for Alba to like her. Neve couldn’t think of another person she’d ever so desperately wanted to like her. Of course, she couldn’t think of another person who’d swept in like a savior when she was at her lowest. Maybe it was inevitable she wanted that person to like her. Maybe it was just who Neve was. Maybe it was just who Alba was, and people couldn’t help wanting her to like them. Not Charlie, clearly, but other people. Maybe Alba was just magnetic like that.

Or, maybe Neve was just a little bit desperate right now. Humiliating, but possible.

As her heart slowly started to settle, her breathing leveling out, Neve pursed her lips and hoped for a positive outcome. Shecouldn’t fully explain why she wanted Alba to like her so much, but she knew it mattered to her right now, and, if that was what she needed, she could at least hope for a positive outcome.

Read.

Alba was on her phone.

Chapter 8

The smile that had begun the second Alba realized it was Neve texting her grew into a wide grin as she read the whole message. It was odd to feel as if you knew someone from only a couple of encounters with them, but Alba felt that way. The message was so very Neve—nervous and apologetic and sweet. Two typos that seemed out of character for someone who gave the air of being put together, even when they were crying on you. Alba could only imagine they came from the nervousness that screamed from within the text. She didn’t think she’d ever been so nervous she couldn’t type properly, but she’d wager good money Neve had.

I’ve met scarier people than Charlie, don’t worry.As she typed, she knew her grin was ridiculous but she didn’t care enough to try to fight it.I know she was just making sure I wasn’t attempting to abduct you. Although, howshe’s worried about that when I clearly didn’t is a little beyond me…

She sent the message and was typing immediately again.And now I have your number you’re never getting rid of me!

It was only after sending the second message that she fully realized they both instantly showed that they’d been read. Neve’s message had been sent ages before Alba’s reply. Had she been staring at her phone, waiting? It seemed unlikely. Much more likely that she just didn’t have her phone set to switch itself off and had simply set the phone down after texting and wandered away.

It wasn’t as though she was typing a reply. If she’d been sitting waiting, she’d have started typing immediately.

“What are you grinning at?” Zainab yelled over the music in the bar.

Alba smirked at her. “Nothing.”

“You’re so predictable.” She rolled her eyes. “So, what did she say?”

“The bartender?” Alba tilted her head, knowing exactly what she was doing. “‘What can I get you?’”

Zainab stared at her for a moment, her eyes dead, before she collapsed forwards onto their table. “That poor woman has no idea what she’s getting herself into.”

Alba glanced back towards the bar. “Oh, I don’t know, she didn’t seem new. I’m sure she knows what the job entails.”

“You do realize she deserves better?”

“Undoubtedly. The service industry is rough.”

“I’m moving out,” Zainab quipped, grabbing her drink and taking an annoyed sip.

Alba couldn’t help but imagine Zainab was wishing she’d ordered something stronger. “You’re definitely not. You’d miss me too much.”

“You massively overestimate your own charm.” She shot Alba a serious look. “What didNevesay?”

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