Page 106 of I Choose You

God, that was lame. I didn’t sound enthusiastic at all.

“Hey. What’s wrong?” Background noise of the airport sounded from her end. “I didn’t call. I figured you were busy and I was packing last-minute stuff.”

“Nah. It’s fine. I’m fine.”

She snorted. “Uh, the hell you are. Did your conversation with Kaden go badly last night?”

I frowned, clamping my lips together. I already felt weighted down by the guilt with how things went with Kaden. I didn’t want to feel lousy about being a bad friend to her, too. She didn’t need to hear about my issues. I didn’t want her to worry while she was on her dream trip.

I cleared my throat and smiled, hoping I could force some pep into my voice. “Hey, no. I’m fine. Really. All is well.”

“You sure?”

“Of course. Listen, I want you to have the best time. Meet new people. Be as present as possible.”

She giggled. “I expect you to like every single picture I post.”

“All of them,” I promised. “And please be safe.”

“I will. You too, girl.”

Too late for that. My heart is shattered. “I can’t wait to hear all about your trip when you get home.”

She hung up shortly after that, and when I set my phone on my desk, I exhaled a ragged breath. No longer having to put on an act for her, I slumped right back into my shitty mood.

“Hey, hey.”

I perked up, pasting a quick smile on my face as Todd knocked then poked his head in. “Need something, boss?”

Tone it down. No need to sound like a hyped-up chipper idiot.

He frowned for a moment and shook his head. “Uh, yes. Yes, I do. Are you busy?”

Yep. Busy missing my biggest mistake. “Nope. Whatcha need?”

“Just a quick favor.”

I smiled—a normal one, not too forceful. “Anything.”

“I need you to head over to Kaden’s office.”

I clenched my teeth to maintain the smile. Anything but that. “Oh.”

He held up some papers. “I need his signatures on these before the end of the day and”—he shook his head when I opened my mouth—“I know. I know. We can always do signatures virtually and not everyone will be accommodating of my old-fashioned preferences of ink and paper.”

I giggled.

“But his secretary said their building is having issues with the wi-fi routers or something.” He shrugged and rolled his eyes like the Luddite he tried not to be. “Something. We can’t use the docusign backup. Can you take these over and get his signature?”

I licked my lips. “Yep. No problem.”

It is most definitely a problem.

“Great.” He handed them over and smiled as he left my office.

End of the day? I glanced at the time, calculating just how many minutes and hours I had to put this off.

It was no use. He was already plaguing my every thought. The guilt wouldn’t lessen. I couldn’t be creative at all in penning some personalized thank-yous to clients. I was a mess.