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A long pause.
“Amber-Rose?”
“Yeah. Hey. Um… how are you?”
I miss you.
“Yeah, I’m good. I just dropped Matty off at school. It’s his second month back without a hitch, can you believe it?”
“That’s great,” she says.
I want to praise her again for her work, back when Bjork was still in pieces, and I want to let her know that the impact of what she’d done still lingers. As Clay said, I shouldn’t claim all the glory.
“Is there anything I can do for you?” Her voice turns to that of the professional Amber The Mender.
I’ve done this will-you-be-my-date thing as often as I’ve calculated hull design ratios, but none of them have felt this hard. “In fact, there is.”
Perhaps feeling my hesitation, she says, “Go on, ask me.”
“Look, I’m thinking…” I gulp. Talking about emotions with Amber-Rose turns out to be a lot easier than asking her to be my date for my own party. “I have an event tonight at the factory in Newport. If you don’t have anything planned, would you come?”
“Event? Like those things where you wear a name badge and get a goody bag if you stay till the end?”
I lean back, releasing a laugh. “It’s a party. Nothing too formal.” A white lie. I don’t want to freak her out in case partying with royals isn’t her thing.
She pauses again.
Then slowly she asks, “In what capacity?”
“My date.” I don’t even try to out a PR spin on it.
There’s a noise, like she’s just walked into something, or knocked over something.
“You okay?”
“Yeah, yeah. I’m here,” she responds. “Why me?”
“Why not you?”
“I… I don’t know, Rob. Really, why me?”
“Well, I’m sick of having Clay as my date, which he’s been for the past few months. Please?”
“That sounds sad.”
“It is. So, what do you say?”
Another moment of silence follows.
Screw my pride. Time to man up.
“I miss you, Amber-Rose,” I confess.
There’s a sigh, and then a deep breath. And do I hear a soft sob?
I imagine her cupping her mouth, then biting a lip, weighing up the possible answers swirling in her head.
Finally, I hear her breathing deeply. I bet she’s ready to answer.
