Page 26 of The Last Dance

His hesitant smile and demeanor are what do it. I’d been trying my best to avoid it, but my heart is now racing in my chest the same way it did the last time I saw him. A reaction I couldn’t fully have when he first walked in because I was too busy trying to survive being murdered by a dead chicken. Well, that and hate him.

For him to text me this photo, I’ll have to give him my new number. I changed my number because I couldn’t talk to him. I wanted him to be happy and find whatever it was he was searching for, but I didn’t want to know about it. If I let him text me this picture he’ll know exactly how to contact me again. I can’t give him my new number.

‘Sure,’ I finally say to his suggestion. Damn it, mouth. Not the answer I was looking for. I’m not sure which is working more against me right now, my racing heart or my clouded head. I suppose it might be nice to have fair warning if I have to face him again. Clearly, I don’t handle surprises very well.

‘Ready?’

‘Yup.’ I smile, only realizing how awkward it is when the screen captures it.

He hands me his phone. ‘Go ahead, text it to yourself. Let me know what she thinks.’

‘Right. I’m sure she’ll have a lot to say.’ I type my number in his phone and hit send, immediately hearing my phone ding in my bag. I know I have a lot to say to her, considering I’m absolutely positive she knew he was back. She’s probably known for weeks. She pretends she and Ben no longer talk to Henry, but I know they do because I’m not dumb; we’ve been friends forever. Also, I was looking through photos on her phone one day when a text from him came through. It nearly stopped my heart as his face flashed on the screen. They only hide him because I insisted they do exactly that.

The next few minutes are an awkward silence as I try and avoid direct eye contact with Henry and pick at my plate, never taking a bite for fear of sudden death by blanched spring vegetables.

‘You know…’ I suddenly glance down at my smartwatch, pretending to only just notice the time. ‘I should probably get going.’ I can’t keep sitting here next to him as if nothing ever happened between us. I need to be busy with something to get this all out of my head.

I also need to go yell at Claire. Besides finding something to do at work, I’ve got nothing to do but maybe run off some stress for an hour on the treadmill at home. That’s kind of my thing. I eat too much or feel too much, and I run. Sometimes for hours. Sometimes the physical pain of a run can mask even the worst emotional wound. Not always, but often enough. Hopefully today will be one of those often enough days.

‘Already?’ Karmen asks with a frown.

‘Yeah, I need to finish some things up at work before this evening.’

‘OK, well, I can leave tickets for you and your friends at will-call. How many will you need?’

Oh, thank God. Claire and Ben can come and defuse the weirdness. And Noah. I’ve never been so thankful for Noah as I am right now.

‘Four would be great.’ I watch Henry as I say it. He knows full well I’ll be bringing Ben and Claire, but a fourth ticket would mean I have a date. He pinches his lips together, not looking my way. That’s right, Henry. Two can play.

‘It was so nice meeting you. I can’t wait for tonight!’

‘Likewise.’ I smile as I stand from my chair, refusing to tell Henry it was nice to see him. The only part I’m thankful he was here for is the saving my life part. He glances up; our eyes meet momentarily before I force myself to walk away.

‘Ugh…’ I groan to myself as I walk past the front windows of the restaurant at the pace of an almost-jog. What a disaster. I wait to break out into a full run until I’m successfully out of sight of anyone within the restaurant walls and continue the six blocks to Claire’s office.

‘Whatare you doing here? I thought you were at a business lunch?’ she asks as I collapse into the chair in front of her desk.

Claire is an interior designer and has an ultra-chic office not far from my apartment. She works with a couple other ladies and her office is always an easy escape when I need it most. Like now.

I pull my phone from my pocket, tap the unopened text from an unknown number and enlarge the photo, handing it to Claire while I catch my breath.

‘Uh-oh…’

I nod. ‘Yeah. Thanks for telling me that he was backandthat he had a girlfriend. Your warning saved me from what could have been a really awkward encounter.’ I spit it at her like fire.

She scrunches up her face as she stares down at my phone. ‘Is that her?’

‘Yep.’

‘She’s pretty. Why doyoulook so weird?’

‘I’m not weird, I’m in shock.’ I grab the phone from her to glance at exactly how bad the photo really is. Ugh. I’ve got a clenched half-smile on my face, a single eyebrow raised, I’m visibly sweating – how did I not notice that little embarrassing detail earlier? And I’m not even looking directly at the camera. I’m staring at Henry on the screen.

‘Ughhh…’ I groan, handing the phone back to her. ‘Fine, I’m weird. God, Claire.Howcould you do this to me?’

‘I’m sorry. He was told to contact you and tell you he was in town by tomorrow morning. If he didn’t I was going to tell you then. I didn’t expect for you to run into him before it happened.’ She glances down at the photo. ‘He looks good though.’

I roll my eyes. ‘That’s exactly why I stopped by, to have you remind me how good-looking he is. That’s the part I was struggling with. Thanks.’ I lean my head against the back of the chair and stare at the ceiling.

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