Page 77 of Through the Snow Globe
Diana heard the beep of a connection and held her breath, hoping this guy didn’t break Addy’s heart any more than he already had.
“Addy?” a male voice said. “Hey.”
“Hi, Jay. Um, how are you?” Addy’s cheeks were now flushed against her pale skin.
“I’ve been missing you,” he said. “A lot.”
“Really? I’ve missed you too.” Addy gave Diana a sheepish look. “But . . . I hear you’re hanging out with Sierra now. She’s keeping you company.”
“Yeah,” he said. “We’ve hung out a few times. To talk about you. We both miss you, Addy.”
“You’ve been talking about me?” Addy brought her folded legs to her chest and propped her phone on her knees as she looked into the screen. Diana was so proud of this girl.
“Not about you in a bad way. We were scheming on a Christmas present for you. Or, more like a Christmas get-well card. It’s not done yet.”
Diana felt a wave of relief crash over her. This boy wasn’t going to break Addy’s heart. It sounded like he genuinely liked her.
“Wow. That’s cool,” Addy said.
“I like your scarf,” he said. “It looks nice on you.”
Addy flicked her gaze at Diana again, a grateful smile tugging at the corners of her lips.
Diana gestured toward the girl’s door and waved as she backstepped out of the room. Addy didn’t need her listening in on her call with her boyfriend, and Diana needed to get to the next item on her list: locating the snow globe in Linus’s closet andunshaking it.
Chapter 21
“You sent me flowers?” Instead of texting, Rochelle had called this time.
“Yes, I did. Happy birthday,” Diana told her.
“This isn’t your way of trying to get out of meeting me for our birthday drinks, is it?”
Diana went quiet. She hadn’t tried to get out of meeting her best friend at Sparky’s the first several times, but this time, she really couldn’t spare a moment out of this day. “I’m really sorry. Please don’t be mad. I’ll make it up to you.”
“You’re ditching me?” Rochelle groaned into the receiver. “You better have a good excuse.”
“I do.”
“Okay, let’s have it,” Rochelle said.
“I’m ransacking my apartment to find the gift that Linus got me for Christmas.”
There was silence on the other end of the line. “I saidgoodexcuse. You’re supposed to wait until he actually gives you the gift, Diana. On Christmas.”
“I know. This is a special situation, though. And before you ask, I’ll just say that you wouldn’t believe me if I told you.” Although Rochelle had kind of believed her yesterday. “Hey, I know this makes me a crappy friend, but I want you to know you are the best friend I could ever want,” Diana said, remembering how Rochelle had held her hand yesterday and stayed with her at the hospital all night. “I don’t know what I would do without you.”
“Okay, what’s going on? You never get mushy on me. Are you dying or something?” Rochelle asked, genuinely sounding concerned.
“No. I don’t think I am, at least. I’ve just come to realize that time is short, and it’s all just wasted if you spend it shutting people out and not telling them how much they mean to you. Or chasing dreams that aren’t really yours.” Diana paused in front of Linus’s closet. She’d already checked it once, but what if he hid it somewhere other than behind his rack of ties in this timeline? Maybe she hadn’t looked hard enough.
“Something is definitely going on with you. If I was standing in front of you in person, I might just give you a hug.”
“And I might just let you. Oh, make sure you prominently display those flowers I sent. I want to make sure your office neighbor sees them when he comes by.”
“Why is that?” Rochelle asked.
“I just think flowers were meant to be shown off.”
