Page 91 of Falling Madly
Charlie straightened in his seat. “You have a private chat? She talks to you… in private?”
“Yeah.”
“You mean, before this trip, when she was avoiding you in these super-creative ways?”
“Like when she suddenly had covid with no symptoms when I was coming to the office?” I let out a sad chuckle, finishing my beer.
“Or when she had huge bunions and couldn’t walk?”
I laughed a little less sadly. “She definitely doesn’t have bunions.”
Charlie’s laugh fizzled out and he gave me a serious look. “You’re saying, she was talking to you all that time? In private?”
I nodded, not sure what he was getting at. “It started as a work chat. I had to send her all these alternate headings, and she ripped them apart and I needed to be there to rewrite and rewrite… It made sense.”
“For the culinary school campaign? That was months ago!”
“Why is this news? We all work together. Of course, we talk.”
“But… privately. Is it all about work?”
“No. We talk about anything. I try to make her feel better when she’s stressed out. She sends me memes…”
“She was dating that other guy. Did she talk about him?”
“No.” I hadn’t asked, either. “Sometimes, she said she’d had a late night, or something like that, so I figured she’d been out with him.” I thought back to our chats. “Sometimes, she messaged me on the weekend. Once when she was babysitting Celia and was nervous about bedtime.”
“She talked toyouabout it? You don’t even have kids.”
“I have nieces and nephews. She doesn’t. And I’m sure she was talking to her sister, too. Maybe other friends. I was probably way down the list.”
“I don’t think you are,” he said. “I don’t think you realize how much she’s leaning on you.”
I shrugged. She could lean on me as much as she liked.
“Has she messaged you since you dropped her off?” Charlie asked.
I picked up my phone and there it was—a chat message from Teresa. The first one she’d ever sent me with a photo of herself. She sat on an unmade bed, wearing a white tank top, her hair shower fresh, smiling.
Teresa:Shower + fresh clothes = magical combo!
I showed it to Charlie, who shook his head, looking almost angry. “You need to cut her off.”
“Cut her off, how?”
“Close the chat, man! She’s friend-zoned you in that chat box and you need to get out.”
“She’s never sent me a selfie before,” I argued, my eyes lingering on that smile, heart aching over how much I wanted to touch her.
“She’s stringing you along.”
I released a heavy sigh, turning the phone face down on the table. “Okay. I’ll think about it.”
Charlie huffed at my hesitation but changed the subject. “You still moving house? Because I’m not sure we can move the officejust yet. They discovered a leaky pipe and there’s some water damage that needs to be fixed first. The agent just called me.”
“Okay. That’s fine. I’m moving on Wednesday. I can’t keep paying rent.”
“We can raise your salary.”
