Page 35 of Love Unexpected
“Just finally taking care of the cabinet doors. To be honest, I didn’t think you were still home. If I’d known, I would have knocked.”
“I’m not usually home this late. It’s just.. . been a weird morning.” If avoiding work by staring at a text message I couldn’t respond to for two hours counted as weird, that’s exactly what it had been.
Suddenly deciding that Reggie could wait to eat until after I was fully clothed, I backtracked toward my bedroom. “I do have to get to work though, so I’m just going to...” I closed my bedroom door, not even waiting for Joe to respond. Reggie followed, begrudgingly so, jumping onto the counter and dropping himself onto my phone as if to punish me for my lack of consideration.
“No more phone for me this morning, huh?” I said, scratching behind his years. “Fine by me, Mr. Grumpy Pants. I need to get ready for work anyway.” I was already an hour late.
By the time I’d worked my way around Joe to feed the cat and toast myself a bagel for the road, I was almost two hours late. Unusual for me, but Greta would understand. I’d never been late before. I didn’t doubt she’d be forgiving when I explained why I was feeling out of sorts.
Before I had even backed out of my driveway, the phone rang, Greta’s face filling the screen.
I answered the call, waiting for the Bluetooth in the car to pick it up.
“Hey,” I said when the connection was complete. “I’m sorry I’m late. It’s been a dumb morning.”
“I can imagine. What are you going to do?”
I paused. I hadn’t told Greta, or anyone, about Isaac’s question. Could she know about his trip to Kansas, too?
“Wait, what are you talking about? What am I going to do about what?”
“You haven’t seen Isaac’s video?”
My hands clenched the steering wheel a little tighter. “What video?”
“Oh, man,” Greta said. “She hasn’t seen it,” she said, her voice a little further away.
Jade’s voice sounded through the phone. “Well, tell her to watch it,” she said.
“Watch what?” I said to Greta. “I’m driving. Please just tell me what it was.”
“Pull over and watch it, Rosie. Now. Before you come into the office. I’ll see you when you get here.” She hung up the call without another word.
Heart pounding, I pulled my car into the parking lot of a corner gas station and pulled up Isaac’s YouTube channel. There was nothing new posted, so I switched over to his Instagram profile. Sure enough, there was a live video—one he’d filmed the previous afternoon. It already had over two million views.
My hands trembled as I held my breath and hit play on the video.
Isaac leaned against the hood of a car, something that looked old, but...not old.Like it had been fully restored. It was a hatchback of some sort, a Volkswagen, maybe? Despite the fear squeezing my gut, I couldn’t help but chuckle. The car was very Isaac.
Isaac talked about the car for a few minutes, giving a shout-out to the mechanic who had done the restoration work and retrofitted the car with an all-new engine. From there, he launched into an explanation of a new segment he’d be featuring on the show about online friends taking cross-country road trips to make real-life connections. His enthusiasm was contagious, and the idea was solid. People were going to love it. But I knew as well as I knew anything exactly what was coming. ExactlywhyIsaac was going to be in Kansas.
The end of his video confirmed my fears. “I can’t wait to help viewers connect with friends from all over the country. But first, I’m going to make a connection of my own. I have an online friend who I’ve never met in person... and she’s become pretty special to me. She lives all the way up in Kansas, so I’m taking this bad boy”—he patted the car behind him—“and I’m driving north to find her.” He looked right into the camera and smiled. “I’ll admit, I’m a little nervous to meet her. But win or lose, I’ll never know what happens next if I don’t take the plunge. So I’m doing this. And I’m taking all of you with me.” After a promise to provide further details in future videos, Isaac signed off.
I leaned back into my seat and dropped my phone onto my lap.
What on earth was I supposed to do now?
My mind reeled as I drove the short distance to the warehouse. When I pulled into the parking lot, I could see Greta and Jade standing outside the front door waiting for me. I parked and willed my nerves to calm. Things were going to be fine.
My phone rang as I climbed out of my car, Diedre’s face filling the screen. I wasn’t sure Diedre had ever called me. We’d only ever texted.
“Hey,” I said after picking up the call. “You okay?”
“Have you talked to Jade yet?” she said without preamble.
“I just got to work, so no, but she’s waiting for me. She and Greta both.”
“Honey, listen to me,” Diedre said in her best mom voice. “You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to.”
