Page 66 of Dear Henry, Love Edith
“Henry,” Angela said breathlessly. She brushed a kiss to his cheek. “What are you doing here? Not that I’m not happy to see you. I just wish you had told me sooner that you were coming. I’m afraid I already have plans for tonight. I might be able to reschedule. Probably not though. Chad’s expecting me. I hate to disappoint him but let me see if—”
“Angela,” Henry said, gently covering her phone with his hand. She looked up from the message she was texting. “It’sfine. I figured you’d be busy. I just wanted to talk to you. In person.”
“Oh. Okay.”
Now that he had her full attention, the speech he had rehearsed during the three-hour drive to Chicago suddenly felt flat. “Um.” He cleared his throat and tugged at his ear. “Angela.”
“Yes?” She eyed him warily, shifting a small step back.
“I, uh, have been thinking a lot lately. About what you said. Earlier this summer.”
“Okay.”
“About us. And the future. And well...” Henry wet his lips. “I think we should break up.”
“I can’t marry you.”
They both spoke at the same time, so it took each of them a moment to register what the other had said. “Wait,” Angela said. “You’re not proposing?”
“You don’t want to marry me?”
“Did you really drive all the way here just to break up with me?”
He tugged at his ear. “Well, yeah.”
Angela’s brows dipped. “If I didn’t feel so relieved right now, I’d feel a little insulted.” She swooped in, wrapping her arms around him in a tight hug.
“Wow,” Henry said, patting her on the back. “I would have broken things off a long time ago if I’d known it was going to be this easy.”
Angela stepped back with a smile. “You’ve actually lifted a huge weight off my shoulders. I’ve sort of been seeing someone else lately.”
“Let me guess. Chad.”
“I didn’t mean for it to happen. We’ve just been spending so much time together and then one thing sort of led to another and—”
“Angela. It’s fine. I came here to break up, remember?”
“Oh yeah.” She trilled an awkward laugh, suggesting she still didn’t know whether to be insulted or relieved. “What about you? Did you find someone else? Is it someone I know?” A ping sounded on Angela’s phone, tugging her gaze down to the screen.
“You might have seen her around, but I don’t think you know her. Remember me talking about a woman who was going to be staying at my house for a while?”
“Yeah, the old lady.” Angela tapped back a reply. “Ethel, wasn’t it?”
“Edith.”
“Right. Edith. She have a granddaughter or something?”
“No. Actually—”
“Sorry, Henry. Chad’s texting me, saying we’re going to be late if we don’t leave now. I hate to rush off. It’s just that we’re meeting up with another potential client. It could be another big assignment for us.”
“I actually need to get going too.”
“Oh, good.” She flashed a quick smile. “Well, it was great seeing you. I’m so glad you came.” Angela stepped toward him for another quick hug. “I’m happy for you. For both of us. Maybe sometime we can all get together. That won’t be weird, will it?” Another ping. “Gotta go. Bye, Henry.”
Angela’s heels click-clacked back across the lobby. “Bye.” Henry watched Angela leave, her strides quick, her head bentover her phone, and wondered briefly how she’d lived so long without walking in front of moving traffic.
Blowing out a breath, he glanced at his watch. That whole exchange had gone better and quicker than he hoped. If only things could go half as smoothly with Edith.
