Page 192 of No Headlines Please

She lowered her voice. "The first night I stayed, I actually searched Maisie's house."

I stared. "You didn't."

"I did."

"But what were you looking for?"

"You."

"Like…you thought I was hiding?"

"Maybe at first." She gave a small, self-conscious shrug. "But then, I was looking for clues. An address. A phone number. Anything."

This made no sense. "But you had my number."

"Yeah. And I called it. A lot. All I got was that robotic message. You never called me back, so I figured…"

"You figured I'd changed it."

"Exactly." She met my eyes. "Maisie thought the same thing. Eventually we compared notes and realized you'd ghosted both of us."

My chest tightened, but I said nothing.

"We missed you," she went on more quietly. "Both of us. Honestly? I think that's part of why we became friends. You were the main thing we had in common – even when you weren't there."

Suddenly, I felt like crying – not sad tears, but the other kind. If we weren't in public, I might've lunged over the table and hugged her while sobbing in relief.

Tessa swiped at her eyes. "Don't you dare cry."

"Me?" I said in a half-laugh, half-sob. "You're the one who looks like you're gonna cry."

"Yeah, well…don't tell Mom. You know how she feels about public spectacles."

That reminded me. "Speaking of Mom, how come she doesn't know you're engaged?" I hesitated. "Or at least I'm assuming she doesn't know, because she hadn't posted a single thing."

"Oh, that?" Tessa said. "I haven't told anyone, and you wanna know why?"

"Why?"

"Because first, I wanted to tell my maid of honor, but I didn't know where she was."

I smiled. "You don't mean…me?"

"Who else would I mean?"

"But…what about Maisie?" In that moment, I loved both of them so much that I would've gladly stepped aside for either of them. "I mean…I don't suppose you can have two?"

Tessa laughed. "Yeah, well…I've got some ideas. Don't you worry about us."

72

Thus the Fudge

Maddox

It had taken two days to get here. Not to the fudge shop. To the point where I was ready to show Delaney the file on my tablet.

The subject was sour, so I'd wanted to offset it with something sweet.