Page 45 of Divine Sense
“Mags…” she started, chewing on her bottom lip from the passenger seat. I dropped my gaze to my lap, knowing where this was going. “You can’t be serious.”
“What? He’s nice, and kind, and actually cares about me,” I interjected, pulling my hand away from her as if her touch had burned me.
“And I love that for you so much, but honey, your parents?—”
“Don’t know about it,” I pressed, feeling a wave of anxiety and nerves to crash in my belly. “They don’t know. And they can’t know, so I would really appreciate it if you keep this to yourself.” She clenched her jaw and looked at me through sorrowful eyes.
“Of course I’ll keep it to myself. But you can’t hide it forever, and when they find out, they won’t be happy.” She was pointing out all the things I had silently worried about but continued to ignore. The thoughts about what my parents’ reactions might be if they knew freely eating away at me day in and day out. I shot my friend a hopeful glance.
“Maybe they’ll be okay with it. He’s successful, has a good name around the city, and they trust him enough to hire him to work for us.” The words came out with blind hope that I knew meant nothing. I knew as well as Margaret did that Kolbi was not the kind of man my parents would ever let me be with. She tucked her lips around her teeth and shrugged.
“Yeah, maybe. Maybe they will, who knows?” The warm smile on her face couldn’t hide the dull optimism in her voice.
She and I held one another’s gaze for another second before I looked away and started the car. As I pulled away from the curb, I could feel the pure joy and excitement I got any time I thought about Kolbi starting to pull away from me too.
30
KOLBI
It had been an entire week since I heard from her after going to surprise her outside her barre class. I knew it was stupid to just show up unannounced and surprise her. It was my idea afterall to keep our relationship a secret and there I was, sitting outside a crowded barre class having to physically restrain myself from grabbing her by the waist and pulling her into me. She told me she would text me, but she hadn’t, which I thought was odd because she was always texting me.Maybe you should text her first for once, I thought as I sat at my desk fielding phone calls and making sure the teams were set for a weekend full of events around the city. Not completely hating the idea, I pulled out my phone and opened our texts.
Scanning through our messages, it was clear that the attraction between us burned brighter than the sun and was hotter than it too. I tried not to swipe too high in our thread as her not safe for work photos still lived in it if I went far enough back. Up until last Saturday, we had texted one another almost constantly about anything and everything. Work kept me busy during the week and it had become normal for me to see herwhen I had a break in my schedule or an open evening. Not hearing from her at all felt wrong, like something was off.
I would like to report a missing person. Female, roughly 5’2”, dark hair that feels like silk. Tends to be kind of a brat and has an attitude. You heard from her?
I watched my phone hoping for a quick reply. An email popping into my inbox caught my attention and several minutes later as I was typing a response, she texted me back.
Flower:
Don’t complain about something you asked for. Beggars can’t be choosers. I know you like that I am the way I am.
Baby I would beg for you daily if you’d let me.
Where have you been? Everything okay?
Yeah everything is fine. I’ve just been busy.
I just hadn’t heard from you in a few days…that’s unlike you.
I brought my fingers to my lips, studying my phone waiting for her answer. Maybe I was imagining the weirdness of her not reaching out before now?
I’ve just been busy is all. Really.
Don’t read into how short she’s being. You’re being paranoid.
My phone buzzed again with another message from her.
I don’t think your men like me very much.
I guess we’re moving on.
She wasn’t wrong. Hank had come into my office earlier this week complaining about how difficult Magnolia had been at some function her family was hosting to raise more money for the campaign. It was a small private event at a restaurant outside of the city so he had sent a couple of guys to run security and stayed back at the office to oversee things. This was one of the few events over the next several months the family hadn’t invited me to come to.
Maybe if you wouldn’t be so difficult and follow the rules, they’d probably like you a little more.
Rules are annoying. Plus, I’m a grown adult and should be allowed to do as I please.
I rolled my eyes at her message as we’ve already talked about how she should be doing what she’s told at these things.
