There was a long pause.“Actually, there might be.”
“Really?”
More than once, Ridge had told me that as a woman, my place was in the kitchen, and I should leave the business matters to him.
“My PA didn’t show up for work today, and she isn’t answering the phone.I need to go over to her place to check that she’s okay.But if it’s some kind of woman stuff…”
“You want me to come with you?”
“Only if you have the time.”
“For the past hour, I’ve been sitting here staring at the beginnings of a new blog and wondering whether I dare to press ‘publish.’Of course I have the time.It’ll be a welcome distraction.”
“Just push the button, Jessie.I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”
Jessie.For most of my twenties, I’d been Jessalyn.Ridge had insisted on using my full name because he said it was classier, and he’d also insisted that only kids would call themselves Jessie.Or Jess.Jess was almost as bad.
But I liked the name Jessie.Mom had called me that, and so did Saylor.
Not only had Justin given me a nickname—wasit childish?—but he’d also encouraged me to publish my blog.Just push the button.He said it as if I were worrying over nothing, as if choosing a path filled with uncertainty over a forty-hour-per-week waitressing job made perfect sense.
He said it as if he believed I could do it.
Ridge had laughed at my blog before it started making money.Then suddenly, it was a “great business opportunity.”He couldn’t find me from a blog, could he?I might have escaped him physically, but the wound was still fresh, and so many times over the past few days, I’d caught myself thinking “Ridge won’t approve” or “Ridge will be angry.”
I gritted my teeth and pushed the darn button, and when Justin pulled up outside in the truck, I was standing by the front door waiting for him.
“Still no answer?”I asked.
“I’ve left three voicemails, sent two text messages, and even tried emailing.I know Amie has a roommate who works at the Waffle Factory, but I don’t have her number.”
“So we’re going to go to your PA’s apartment, and if she isn’t there, we’re going to the Waffle Factory?”
“That’s the plan.We’ll take the other car—it’s more comfortable.”
“Could we maybe stop at a gas station?I’ll be quick, I swear.It’s just that I’ve run out of something, and it’s that time of the month, and if I could manage without, I would, and…”
“You don’t have to explain.There’s a convenience store beside Amie’s apartment, and check my bathroom vanity later.My ex left boxes of tampons in there, but I understand they come in different types, so they might be no good to you.”
This was a week of many firsts, such as sharing a house with a man who didn’t question my need to use more than three tampons in a twenty-four-hour period.Ridge had remained perpetually baffled by female biology, even though I’d tried explaining many, many times.
I climbed into the passenger side of the BMW, and a little while later, Justin parked in a visitor space outside a neatly kept three-storey building and looked around.
“I don’t see Amie’s car here.She usually parks out front.”
“Is that good news or bad news?”
“Who the fuck knows?”
Even Justin’s cursing was refreshing.Ridge couldn’t abide foul language, as if calling me a drama queen or a nag or an attention seeker as he slapped me was somehow better than calling me a stupid bitch.
“You mentioned a roommate, but does she have a boyfriend?Could she be working through a breakup?”
“An on-again, off-again jackass named Brett.Last I heard, they were off again, but…”
Justin shrugged and strode toward the building.I hurried to keep up.First, he tried the intercom, and when nobody answered, he caught the door as another resident exited and headed inside.Nobody answered his knock either, and when I pressed my ear against the wood, all I heard was silence.
“I don’t think she’s in there, or if she is…”
