Page 37 of All I Feel

I was planning to visit with my mom and Harper tonight.

Ace

Perfect. I’ll probably have to work a bit later to catch up, since I got in a bit past my usual time today. But if you don’t have plans for tomorrow after work, I can come by.

A thrill of excitement moved through me, the smile plastered on my face as my fingers flew across the screen.

It sounds like I have plans now.

Ace

Good. We’ll talk tomorrow, then. Call if you need me.

I stared at the screen.

Call if you need me.

Who knew Ace Townsend could be so perfect?

Don’t work too hard.

Lark cleared her throat, startling me. I dropped my hands to my sides as I jumped back and looked at her.

“Judging by the look on your face, I’m going to assume that wasn’t Ryan reaching out to you.”

“No.” I felt the flush of heat creep over my skin. “It was Ace. Apparently, your brother felt compelled to pay my ex a visit.”

“What?” There was no mistaking the disbelief in her tone. Clearly, she’d expected I was going to tell her there’d been a different reason he’d reached out to me.

“After I shared with him that Ryan intended for us to be together, Ace said he was going to make it clear that I was done.” I held up my phone and shook it. “This was him letting me know that he paid Ryan a visit this morning.”

Before Lark could respond, I turned and moved back to where Georgia was waiting. I checked her nails. “Looks like you’re all set.”

“They look so good.”

I smiled. “I’m glad you’re happy with them. Do you want to call to schedule another appointment, or would you like to set something up now for next month?”

She looked down at her fingers, wiggled them, and smiled. “It’s probably best I schedule now, isn’t it?”

“There’s a greater chance you’ll be able to get a day you want if you do.”

Nodding, Georgia said, “Okay. Let’s do that.”

For the next few minutes, I took care of scheduling Georgia’s next appointment and getting her checked out. Aftershe paid and left, Lark and I were alone. I turned around and leaned my hip against the counter.

“Does it bother you?” I asked, cutting to the chase.

Her brow furrowed. “Does what bother me?”

“That I called him?” I swept my hand in her direction. “You’re my best friend, Lark. Any other instance, you know I’d have called you. But Ace offered, and he was the first person I thought of when I cleared my head long enough to make that call.”

She stepped forward, placed her hand on my shoulder, and tipped her head to one side. “It doesn’t bother me at all, Tessa. All that matters to me is that you had someone with you who cared about you. That’s what’s important.”

I smiled. “He’s been really wonderful with me.”

“I can tell. Your face lit up when you were texting him.”

A shiver ran along my spine. “I don’t want you to get the wrong idea. Ace is just being a good friend.”