Page 83 of Safe With You

I slipped the phone into my pocket and opened the truck door.

It buzzed again before I could climb inside.

I looked down.

And I circled Open Mic Night.

I read the message once.

Then again.

A smile pulled at my mouth.

Knew you would.

Her reply came before I started the truck.

Don’t get cocky.

Too late.

I set the phone in the cup holder and pulled out of the parking lot.

I’d gone to Chapter & Charm that morning to talk about photographs.

We’d done that.

None of it had felt particularly important while it was happening.

Maybe that was why I kept thinking about it.

The light ahead turned red, and I stopped behind a line of cars.

My phone sat quiet in the cup holder now.

Wednesday at eight.

There was work to do before then. Galleries waiting at the studio, emails I should’ve answered an hour ago.

My life was still exactly what it had been when I woke up that morning. Full. Good. Nothing about that had changed because I’d spent a couple hours at Chapter & Charm.

At least, I didn’t think it had.

But when the light turned green and I continued toward the studio, my mind wandered back to Luna anyway. More specifically, to the fact that somewhere between talking about her website and walking me through the bookstore, I’d started wondering what she might text me about next.

The thought stayed with me for the rest of the drive.

And this time, I let it.

There were four shirts on my bed, and somehow this was Ellis Monroe’s fault.

It was Tuesday morning, and instead of getting ready for work like a normal person, I was standing at the foot of my bed in a towel, staring at four perfectly acceptable shirts like one of them had personally offended me.

The cream blouse was too plain. The rust-colored one had a neckline I suddenly wasn’t sure about. The green one looked good against my caramel skin, but I’d worn it recently.

And the black one was black, which usually made it the winner.

I crossed my arms.