Page 58 of Beyond Question

My phone beeps with a text and I open the top drawer of my desk to retrieve it, smiling when I see whose name is on the screen.

Travis Wilder:

I’ve sent over your favorite. Hope you don’t have lunch plans.

My chest warms and a drumline of butterflies kicks to life in my stomach.

“Knock knock,” Rylan says as she enters my office. “Did you order lunch?”

I glance at the small cooler on the floor beside my desk, which contains the lunch I brought from home, then shake my head.

“Well, it smells amazing. I think it’s Thai food.” She sets the plastic bag on my desk, then hands me a Thai iced tea in a clear takeout cup.

And I can’t fight the smile pulling at my lips.

“What’s that?” Rylan points at my face. “Are yousmiling? You really do have it bad.”

Saving me from having to respond to that statement—do I deny or just succumb to the truth?—the phone in her office begins to ring just as my phone alerts me to another text. Rylan backs out of my office slowly, eyes narrowed as they hold mine. “Is that a text from your boyfriend?”

“Shoo.”

When she’s gone, I pull out my phone again and open the latest text.

It’s a photo this time, of an open takeout container full of red curry on top of rice, with a Thai iced tea beside it.

And just like that, I’m grinning all over again.

Travis Wilder:

Wish we were eating this together *sad face emoji*

Paige Matthews:

Me too.

I pause, then add:

I miss you.

His text comes through a split second later:

Don’t tell me that. I might fly home early.

Laughing, I type out another reply.

Thank you for lunch, Mr. Wilder.

Travis Wilder:

You’re welcome, Ms. Matthews.

Smiling, I begin to push the phone away, then think better of it, opening the takeout container full of Massamun Curry. I set the drink beside the meal and snap a photo, then send the pic to Travis.

He responds almost immediately.

Travis Wilder:

Tell me what you’re wearing.

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