Page 92 of Embracing the Beat
WEST
I’m still waiting on Michaela’s text when I drive home from school several hours later. Worry curdles in my gut.
Maybe there really is nothing they can do, and she doesn’t want to call me with bad news.
Kelly and Dan are both at work, so I bound up to my bedroom, dialing her number as soon as I close the door.
“Hello?” It sounds like I woke her up.
“Baby, are you okay?” I ask, guilt eating at my stomach when she sniffles. “What’s the matter?”
“I—uh—nothing’s wrong.” Her rushed statement triggers alarms in my head.
What the fuck is going on almost three thousand miles away?
“You were supposed to let me know how lunch went. I haven’t heard from you all day.”
“Sorry. I wasn’t feeling well and came back to take a nap.”
Immediately I feel like an asshole. She’s still fucking sick, and I’m over here thinking she’s up to something else. She’s given me no reason not to trust her. I need to stop acting like she’s up to something nefarious.
“Oh, baby, I’m sorry. Why don’t you go back to sleep? We can talk later.”
“No, I feel better. Just tired.”
Tired from what?
I try to shut out that voice, the one that whispers negative shit. Shit that reminds me of Ashley.
“The meeting went well. The attorney, Mike, thinks there are a couple of clauses he can use to get me out of the contract.”
“He does?”
“Yeah. He wanted to research it some more and let me know once he had time to do that.”
“That’s good. How does he know Mia?”
She laughs, and some of the tension ebbs from my shoulders—but not all of it.
“This town is crazy small sometimes. You know how Mia is married to Garrett, right?”
“Yeah.” She’s mentioned both Mia and Garrett a few times now.
“Well, Garrett works with Meredith Pryce. Well, Meredith Rhodes now, I guess. Unless she hyphenates. Meredith Pryce-Rhodes?”
“Baby,” I interrupt, trying to get to the rest of the story.
“Sorry. Meredith works with Garrett. And she’s Mike’s daughter.”
“And you’re sure he’s on the up-and-up? Not trying to take advantage of you?”
“He’s not. Mia wouldn’t have set up a meeting if she thought that.”
“But Mia doesn’t really know him,” I point out.
“Garrett—”
“Doesn’t really know him either.”
