“What do you mean you’re not in the city?” Chrissy screeches into the phone. “Where the hell are you?”
I wince, leaning forward to adjust the speakerphone volume without taking my eyes off the road. “I’m heading up to Rocky Neck, to visit my mom for a few days.”
“Why on god’s green earth would you do that?”
“I just… have to get away for a while. Get a fresh perspective.”
“You can get a fresh perspective here!”
“Chrissy, we live in the same city.”
“Boston and Cambridge are technically two separate cites,” she points out. “I mean, there’s a whole river between us!”
I snort.
“Please, don’t go away. This bed rest thing — it’s boring me to tears. Without your visits, I’ll go insane. I don’t have anyone else to keep me company.”
Way to lay on the guilt, Chrissy.
“It’s only for a few days,” I assure her. “And you aren’t alone — you have Mark and Winnie.”
“Mark is at work all day and Winston is eleven months old. Not exactly a stimulating conversation partner.” She sighs deeply. “And as much as I love them,theyaren’t being kissed in elevators by handsome, extremely eligible bachelors.”
“I see you’ve been talking to Shelby.”
Her tinkling laugh drifts over the line. “She may’ve filled me in on certain details. But it’s not the same, secondhand! What am I going to do without you around to keep things interesting?”
“Rest. Read a book. Keep growing that baby.”
“You sound just like Mark.” She huffs. “Traitor.”
I roll my eyes. “I’ll see you when I get back.”
“But—”
Before she can launch into a fresh string of protests, I reach out and power down my cell, cutting off the call and ensuring that Chrissy — predictably persistent — can’t call me ad nauseam until I change my mind about getting out of town. I wasn’t lying about needing a fresh perspective. I’d just failed to mention the fact that I was running away.
From the paparazzi camped outside my apartment.
From my rage-aholic ex-boyfriend intent on revenge.
From the crazy, Croft cousin who wants to use me as a pawn in his games.
But, mostly, from Chase.
And from the unexpected pain that splintered through my heart this afternoon when I heard the blonde’s voice on his answering machine.
As soon as Evan and Knox left earlier, the new cellphone they’d forced into my hands began to ring, the screen lighting up with a message that made my stomach flip.
CHASE CALLING
I’d pushed the ignore button, pretending not to hear the terrifying alert of a new voicemail that bleeped from the speakers twenty seconds later. I hadn’t listened to his message…
Or any of the others he’d left me, on two-hour intervals for the rest of the day.
But, when I zipped my duffle closed and crossed the apartment, ready to leave for the weekend, I’d stopped at the last minute, walked back to the coffee table, and grabbed the phone before I could talk myself out of it.
I wasn’t going to analyze why I’d brought it with me.