Page 130 of Friends with Benefits

Notifications.

She has five missed calls.

Theo.

Theo.

Theo.

Theo.

Theo.

Something is wrong. Is it Jacob? Theo? She doesn’t think, just calls him back, pressing her phone to her ear as her feet carry her outside.

Theo answers on the first ring. “Ev.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Where are you? Are you okay?”

She closes her eyes and exhales. “I’m fine, Theo. I’m in Solvang.”

“What?”

“I’m in Solvang with Gen. My grandparents, too.”

“Oh.” His voice is so soft. His heart is so loud. She wishes she could reach through the phone and press her palm against his chest. “Shit. You could’ve told me.”

“I… did I need to?”

“I thought something was wrong.”

“Why?”

“It’s Wednesday.”

Oh.

Her heart is in her throat. “Right.”

“But you’re good?”

No.

“Yeah.”

“I’ll let you get back to your family, then.”

Theo disconnects the call. The first thing Evie sees on her screen is a Google Alert that spoils theSurvivorfinale—and that is the moment when she loses it on a park bench. Outside the Tiki Lounge. In Solvang. Because Theo hasn’t even left yet but he already feels so far away, and it’s her fault because she pushes, she checks out, she built a concrete wall around her heart and it’s fine, she is fine, it’s what she wants.It is what she wants.If she keeps telling herself this, it must be true.

“Sweets?”

Evie wipes her eyes, unsure how long she’s been out here, and it’s all so ridiculous.

Sobbing in Solvang.

Her life.

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