Page 47 of Missing Pieces (Men of Manhattan 3)

"What's she like?"

Josh shrugged. "Nice. Too nice, really. I don't even think she realized she was leading him on. That's the kind of thing that messes with a guy's head." He grabbed the bagel when it popped out and handed it to me on a plate. "Cream cheese okay?" He slid a tub of it across the counter.

"Yeah, thanks." I stared down at my bagel as I spread cream cheese across it. My mind was going a million miles a minute. "Why do you think he's so hung up on her?"

"Because she's pretty and understanding and completely unavailable."

"Unavailable?"

"Yeah. He just needed something to hold on to when they met. If you ask me, he just liked the idea of her more than anything. She's always just been a distraction."

"Why did he need something to hold on to?"

"Because of everything he lost."

Chapter 24

Tyler

Tuesday

I pulled my phone out of my pocket. There were a dozen missed phone calls and two voicemails. I clicked on the first one.

"Mr. Stevens, this is Officer Daugherty from the NYPD. We haven't heard back from you regarding our case. We will be issuing a warrant for your arrest if you don't return to New York for..."

I pulled the phone away from my ear and pressed the delete button. Apparently blocking one number from the NYPD didn't block all of them. I blocked this number too. I wasn't going back to New York. Nothing could make me go back there.

I leaned against the brick wall of the repair shop and stared out at the barren street ahead of me as I pressed on the other voicemail.

"Sweetie, it's your mother. I just...I wanted to apologize about the other night." She cleared her throat. "Would you please give me a call? I love you."

The voicemail beeped, signaling the end of the message. I pressed on my mom's name in my phone and put it back to my ear. It only rang once before she answered.

"Hi, sweetie. How is your road trip going?"

The fake optimism in her voice didn't fool me at all. But I was going to let her pretend that everything was okay. I didn't need to second guess my decision. It was too late for that anyway. "It's good. I stopped at Josh's."

"In Texas? You're making good progress."

"Mhm."

"How is he doing? I haven't seen him since you two graduated."

"He's doing great. His business really took off." He offered me a job that I would have accepted in a heartbeat a few days ago.

"So, just a few more days now?"

I looked down at my shoes. "Yeah, Mom."

"You know, I was wondering, are you going to be able to call me during basic training?"

"I really don't know."

"Okay."

"I'll call you whenever I can, though. Don't worry about that."

"I know, sweetie." There was an awkward silence. "Are you driving safely?" She always asked me that whenever I went anywhere. Even if it was only a few miles away. And I wasn't about to tell her I had gotten in an accident yesterday. She'd freak out.

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