Page 67 of One Sweet Day I Found You

He glanced at the time again. He really wanted to talk to her.

But it was too late to call, wasn’t it? She was an early riser, and it was very late on a Tuesday night. She had to be in bed by now.

Still, he thought she would’ve replied to his text when he couldn’t make their date today, right?

He scrolled through the day’s messages. One from his brother. One from Marcos about the shop. Nothing too important. He’d answer them tomorrow.

He opened up the text messages under Courtney’s name, and his shoulders sank. Shehadleft him a message. It must’ve just come in, after he’d turned his phone back on. Cell service could be spotty in different places on the peninsula. Sometimes it took him getting all the way home before all of his messages came through.

Are we still on for today? I’m at your shop.

She had called, too, although she hadn’t left a voicemail. He scrolled back through the history on their message thread. “Shoot.” He rubbed his forehead. “Oh, man.”

No wonder she didn’t text back in response to his text. She never even got it. He cursed under his breath. She was probably upset with him, or at the very least, confused.

Tom was fixing a bowl of ice cream in the kitchen. “Whattup?”

“Aw.” Nick frowned. “Nothing. Just saw that I sent a message to Courtney today to cancel our date, but it never went through.”

“Oh.” Tom made a face. “Uh-oh.”

“Exactly.” Nick started a message to Courtney, but then he stopped. It would only wake her up. She left her phone on at night. She’d said she had a big story due tomorrow. She’d probably been up late working on it.

He swore again. She knew he went out on calls like this with no warning. The message was just an oversight on his part. She’d understand. But he’d send her a quick apology by email now so she’d see it when she woke up.

Then, he’d make it up to her. He’d surprise her in the morning.

Nick missed her terribly. After a long day like this, he could think of nothing better right now than to throw his arms around her and pull her in tight.

But that would have to wait until another time, and he was completely exhausted anyway.

Nick peeled himself from the couch, made his way to his bedroom, closed the door, and collapsed on his bed.

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