Page 51 of Right Number

I rolled my eyes and waved my hand in the air trying to hide my disappointment. “It’s Bev. Who knows?” I shrugged one shoulder casually as I took a drink of my coffee.

Bree nodded in understanding. She and Sarah had a fair amount of experience with my mother and our complicated relationship. Bree took a sip of her coffee. “Are you and Mason still planning on going to dinner before the show?”

“Yes!” I said with a big smile, grateful she’d moved the conversation away from Bev and back to Mason. “We thought it would be a good idea to have a little time together before going. Mason is going to change his clothes here and then we have reservations for dinner.”

Sarah refilled her coffee mug. “I’m so thrilled for you, babe! This is such a big day!” She sounded genuinely excited. It made me happy to know my friends understood what a huge leap it all was for me. I hadn’t told Bev about Mason. I was planning to after the art show. I wanted to at least spend some time with him in person before putting him on her radar.

“Thank you,” I said with complete sincerity. “I’m really excited too and I appreciate your support.”

The three of us finished our coffee together before Bree and Sarah headed back to their rooms to get dressed for the day. I took the opportunity to do a quick cleaning run-through of the apartment. The good thing about living with Sarah and Bree was that all three of us were fairly tidy people. There was barely anything that needed done. I checked the time on my phone and, while it was still early on the West Coast, I thought Mason might be up. I typed out a quick message to him. “Rise and shine! Today’s the day!”

As usual, his response came through almost immediately. “Good morning! So excited!” I felt my heart flutter as I read his message. I couldn’t believe we were actually going to meet face-to-face…and he was going to be my date to the Spring Art Show! Everything in my life was coming together perfectly on the same day. My phone buzzed with a second message from Mason. “I just need to go into the office for a little while and finish up a few things on this project then I’m headed to the airport.”

My eyebrows shot up at the second message. I couldn’t explain where it came from, but I instantly felt uneasy about him catching his flight. He was supposed to have the day off work and go right to the airport. That was the plan. I did a quick time calculation in my head. Based on what Mason had told me when we originally made the plan, if he went into work for a couple hours, the timeline was going to be tight. Really tight. “Is that going to work with your flight?” I asked.

“Won’t be a problem. Stopping in early to quickly finish one thing I couldn’t get done last night. Will have plenty of time to make the flight.”

“OK. Keep me posted.” As much as I tried to ignore it, a small seed of worry had been planted deep in my stomach.

“Will do. Can’t wait to see you later today!”

Everything is going to be fine, I told myself. I walked back to my bedroom where I dropped my phone into my purse and started to put on my shoes. I looked at the beautiful pink dress hanging on my closet door. Soon I’d be wearing it while I went to dinner and the Spring Art Show with Mason. The thought made me smile and seemed to wash away that small seed of concern. I just needed to keep busy and Mason would be there before I knew it.

SEVERAL HOURS HAD PASSED by the time I returned from my errands. I got distracted on the way to the grocery store by the thought that I really needed a new pair of heels to go with my new dress. Lucky for me, there was a fancy little boutique on the way to the grocery store, and I was now the owner of a really hot-looking pair of sky-high, strappy, nude-colored heels. Even I had to admit they made my legs look a million miles long and were going to be perfect with the short hemline on my pink dress.

I’d just finished putting the groceries away when I remembered my phone was in my purse. I’d checked it when I was purchasing the shoes, but hadn’t looked at it since. When I pulled the phone out of my purse, I was surprised to see a voicemail from Mason. I quickly pulled up the message and started listening to it.

“Anna. This is Mason. I’m so incredibly sorry, but there was an emergency issue that came up with the project I’m working on and I need to get it figured out before I can leave. I called the airline and there’s a flight a little later so I switched my ticket. We won’t have time for dinner, but I’ll be there in time for the art show. I’m so sorry, Anna. This is not how I wanted our first meeting to go, but this project is really important. I promise I’ll make it up to you. Please call me.”

I listened to the message again as I tried to keep myself calm. A sense of panic bubbled up in my body as multiple thoughts swirled through my head.

He’ll still be there for the Spring Art Show.

Work is more important than coming to meet me.

It is a big, important project he’s been working on for a while.

This is what he wanted. He is the one that pushed for us to meet.

It’s supposed to be our special night together.

This is why I was so scared to make the leap to meet in person.

Everything is harder when there’s a big geographic distance between us.

I closed my eyes as I tried to pinpoint exactly how I felt. Hurt and disappointed were intermixed with the swirling thoughts. It was supposed to be a special night…our special night. We’d been talking about it daily and planning for weeks. Mason taking a different flight and skipping dinner was not what we’d planned. It really bothered me that he’d changed our plans without even talking to me about it first. I expected that kind of stuff from Bev but not from Mason. I thought he was someone I could count on.

“Hey!” a bubbly voice said from behind me. As my eyes flew open, I realized I was standing in the middle of the kitchen holding my phone, unable to move or speak. Sarah came and stood in front of me. “Whoa! Anna, what’s wrong?” Her previously bubbly tone was replaced by concern.

I was too afraid I’d burst into uncontrollable tears if I tried to explain what happened. Instead, I pushed the speaker button on my phone and played the message for her. “Oh boy,” Sarah said when the message concluded. “I’m so sorry, Anna. How are you feeling about all this?”

“Not good,” I whispered as I continued to fight back the tears.

Sarah reached out and put her hand on my arm. “He said he’ll still be here for the show.”

I could feel a few tears start to slip out of my eyes and down my cheeks. “We’ve been planning this for weeks; it’s going to be weird meeting him and then going right to the show. Dinner was supposed to be our time to get settled in with each other.” I’d made reservations at a really nice restaurant where we’d be able to spend some time alone, just us, before being swept up into the crowd that was going to be at the art show. “Plus, he just changed the plans without talking to me about it. Why would he do that?”

“Oh, sweetie.” Sarah handed me a paper towel to wipe my eyes. It was scratchy on my face, but I didn’t really care. “Have you called him back?”

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