Page 100 of Ace My Heart

He cleared his throat. “Yeah, I’m here. And no, I’m not at the concert.”

“Why not? Where’sJulie?”

“It doesn’t matter. Listen, I just had a call from Natalie’s dad.”

“Oh, okay.”

The silence stretched. I tried to focus through the fog of wine.

“What happened, Joel?”

“Natalie lost her fight. The funeral’s tomorrow. Her dad thought you might have wanted to be there.”

The tipsiness leeched straight out of me.

“Of course I want to go.” My shoulders slumped and I rubbed at my forehead. “That’s just awful. Poor little Natalie.”

Joel cleared his throat again. It sounded like he was trying not to cry. “Yeah, it’s fucking horrible. Funeral’s at ten. You want me to pick you up?”

“Please. I’ll see you then.”

“Are you … are you alone?” he asked and the agony in his tone was lightning through my chest.

“I’m home … alone.”

“Will you be okay?”

My vision blurred. “I … I think so. I’ll see you tomorrow, Joel.”

I hung up the phone before he could hear me start to sob. Because if that happened, he’d want to come over. And if he came over nothing good would come of it.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

This One Chance

“Ifeel like all I ever do lately is attend funerals for people who should still be alive,” I muttered thickly to Joel as I pulled on a black coat over my grey pants and cream jumper. The day had dawned crisp and cold. I slipped my feet into a pair of tan ankle boots and sat down on the edge of the bed.

“Trust me, Stink, you’re not alone there,” Joel replied from the doorway. I looked up at him. He was wearing dark grey pants and a black shirt with a cream-coloured suit jacket over the top, and tan shoes. I grimaced – we were colour coordinated. Well, it wasn’t my fault; I’d gotten up and ironed this outfit before he’d arrived. How was I supposed to know that he was going to wear those colours?

The BMW’s air conditioner blasted warm air over me, flipping my hair around my shoulders. The inside of Joel’s car was so warm that I struggled out of my coat.

Joel watched me. “Hey, Stink, I’m sorry for interrupting your date with Lov … Brad last night.” He actually sounded like he meant it.

I sighed. “It’s okay, Joel. I don’t think … I think he wants things that I’m not … that just aren’t going to happen. I feel like I might have screwed it all up last night, actually.”

He took his eyes off the road to stare at me. “How?” he asked sharply.

I shrugged and looked down at my lap. “Well, we sort of kissed again.”

“Yousort ofkissed?” Joel asked sharply.

“He said some things on the drive home that … riled me up. I was ready to leave the car mad at him, but then he kissed me. And …”

“And what?”

“And I kissed him back … for probably longer than I should have. I stopped as soon as … Brad and I shouldn’t be anything but friends. But I kind of think that the kiss might have given him the wrong impression.”

“Because a kiss from Melanie Black is life changing.” Joel murmured.

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