Page 282 of Champagne Nights

“Oh, so now you think I should get it?”

“I don’t know. It’s up to you, and only you can make that decision. You were never the type of person to let other people influence you. It’s late. Get some rest, and in the morning, you’ll have a clearer head, and you can go back home and talk to him once you’ve both calmed down.”

I threw myself on the bed in her guest room and stared up at the ceiling. I had never been impulsive, but in this case, I did an impulsive thing. Grabbing my phone, and without any thought, I booked a flight to California. I needed to get out of the city and away from everyone.

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Ellie

I snuck out of my mom’s apartment in the middle of the night and stayed at the airport until my flight boarded at 5:30 a.m. As soon as the plane landed and I was in the cab on my way to the Malibu house, I turned on my phone and found I had a few text messages from Henry.

“Please come home so we can talk.”

“Why are my messages being sent as text messages instead of iMessage’s? You better not have blocked me, Ellie. That’s really immature.”

“????????”

“Damnit, Ellie. Answer me!”

“I didn’t block you. My phone was off. I don’t want to talk to you right now. When I’m ready I will.”

“That’s not fair. We need to talk.”

“No! What’s not fair is you no longer want to accept me for who I am!”

“Oh my God. That is not true! Stop being a spoiled brat!”

“A spoiled brat? Now you’re blocked, asshole!”

I inserted the key into the lock, opened the door, and immediately punched in the alarm code to turn the alarm off. As angry as I was at him, a sense of peace washed over me as I stood in the house. After taking my suitcase upstairs, I opened the closet, changed into a sundress, and went down to the beach.

Henry

I couldn’t believe she was behaving the way she was. She totally took everything I’d said out of context. I never should have brought it up, but I felt as if I had to. It was the one thing I didn’t know about her, and I wanted to know everything. I figured it would be a sensitive subject, but I had no idea it would escalate into her leaving the penthouse.

I had Christian drive me over to her mom’s apartment. When Dani opened the door, I wasn’t prepared for what she’d told me.

“Hi, Dani. I need to see Ellie.”

“Come on in, Henry. Ellie isn’t here.”

“What do you mean? She said she was coming here last night.”

“She did, but when I woke up this morning, she was gone and so was her suitcase.”

“Where did she go?”

“I don’t know. I tried to text her, but my messages wouldn’t go through.”

“I spoke with her earlier, and she said she had her phone off. But she didn’t say she wasn’t here.”

“I really wish you would have talked to me first before bringing up the cochlear implant to her,” she said.

“I didn’t plan on talking to her about it last night, but when we were at the fundraiser, I could tell she was overwhelmed. Ifshe had the implant, she could engage more, and it wouldn’t be so hard for her.”

“You mean it wouldn’t be so hard on you to see it.” Her brow arched.

“Why does everyone think I want this for me? I want it for her.”

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