Page 23 of Lost and Found

Her mind drifted to Wes. He’d somehow boomeranged back into her life. She tried to imagine what his life had looked like over the years. She knew little beyond what she’d found online after Angus threatened to fight for custody. Essentially, just his workplace. Titan Group.

Her phone buzzed. A message from Wes appeared on her lock screen, and her pulse jumped.

Wes: What are you doing?

Bailey: Why?

The little dots danced on her screen.

Wes: Because I’m bored out of my mind sitting in a hotel room. Nothing on TV. Nothing I want to stream.

Bailey: So you’re bothering me?

Wes: If I’ve got to suffer, so do you.

Bailey: Think about work?

Wes: Hey now, Debbie Downer. I don’t want to think about dead college kids before I fall asleep.

Wes: What are you doing?

Bailey: You already asked that.

Wes: And you didn’t answer.

She was folding the laundry. How boring and uninteresting was she? She didn’t care what he thought—except she did.

Bailey: Reading a book.

Not a complete lie. She’d been reading earlier.

Wes: What book? And don’t ask me why I want to know.

She grinned.

Bailey: A romance novel. You wouldn’t know it.

Wes: You have no idea what I read.

Bailey: What’s your favorite HEA look like?

The dancing dots appeared and disappeared on her screen. He typed and stopped and started again.

Wes: HEA as in…

Wes: Hostile Environment Alert?

Wes: Heat Exchange Assembly?

Wes: Home Energy Audit?

She laughed and pulled a blanket off the back of the couch to cover her legs.

Bailey: You’re so close. Try one more time.

Wes: Human Error Analysis? That sounds more true crime than romance.

Bailey: Happily ever after