Page 56 of The Fear of Falling
I do that too, but not when I want to unwind at the end of the day.
Avery:
Huh.
Huh. That’s all she says, which means I have no idea what she thinks about my reading preferences. It only makes me wonder again about what might have happened if she and I met at a book club. Eric caught her fancy without being a reader, so either she’s not a fan of fiction readers, which feels unlikely, given her choice of career, or there was something else about him that caught her eye. I wonder what it was.
Before I cave and ask, I type out a different text.
Benson:
It’s late. You should get some sleep, since we both know you won’t be sleeping in.
Avery:
Don’t tell me what to do.
For a second I worry I’ve overstepped, but then she sends a winking emoji. But it’s the one that’s also blowing a kiss, and my breath catches in my throat. I won’t pretend I’m fully versed in emoji language, but that one feels like it means more than a regular wink. It’s flirty and bold, like she was at the restaurant tonight.
“Avery Grace, what game are you playing?” I mutter and try to figure out what I can say to that. With my casual approach to dating and women in general, I rarely flirt over the phone, so this is out of my wheelhouse. Giving up on any sort of a cleverresponse, I search through the bank of emojis to try to find one that might work as a reply.
I settle on the “rock on” symbol, the one with the pinky and forefinger held up, and lock my phone before I get even more caught up in this conversation. It’s probably the wrong thing to send, but what else is new? I never have the right words when it comes to Avery Baldwin.
Chapter 20
Avery
Avery:
Okay, so say Benson and I parted ways in Italy because we knew things couldn’t go anywhere when we live in different places. But say Benson showed up here in Utah out of the blue last week because he’s Eric’s old college buddy and we hired him as a consultant for our publishing company. And say neither of us had any idea we would see each other again until I walked into work last Monday. And say Benson told me that we are nothing but colleagues because he’s only here for a few weeks. But say I started flirting with Benson tonight, and we’ve been flirt texting, and he ended our conversation with this: *rock on emoji*
WHAT DOES THAT MEAN???
Ipacemybook-strewnliving room while waiting for one of my cousins to respond. I sent that text last night when they were probably all asleep, but it’s morning now, and I’m desperate for an analysis. Surely one of them has some sort of emoji hieroglyph dictionary in their brain, right?
I’m old enough that when I started texting, emojis weren’t a thing. Benson’s older than me. So either he is more versed in emoji meanings than I am, or he has no idea how to say what he wants to say.
“This is why we use our words,” I grumble at my phone.
Is it because I sent the kissy emoji? I thought it was fun and flirty, but it must have crossed the line. While I still don’t know what the “rock on” emoji means, it’s safe to assume that Benson wasn’t interested in flirting back.
I’ve delayed going to work this morning as long as I can, hoping for some assistance before I have to see Benson, but if I don’t leave in the next few minutes, I’ll actually be late. Not that I have a set time I need to arrive—kind of the perk of owning my own company—but I’ll feel terrible if Benson is there by himself. Lynda will look after him, but—
My phone buzzes on the counter where I left it, and I leap over a pile of books to see which of my cousins is going to save me. Instead, I find a text from Lynda.
Lynda:
Hey sweetie, I woke up this morning with an awful head cold, and I’m going to need to call it a sick day. I’ll monitor customer service emails from here unless you need me to come in.
Avery:
Oh my gosh, no, please stay home! Do you need me to bring you anything?
Lynda:
Avery, honey, I don’t need you mothering me. I’ll be fine. *kissy face*
There, see? A kissy face doesn’t mean anything crazy! Then again, Lynda is of the generation who tend to use emojis completely wrong, so maybe that isn’t a point in my favor.
