I wipe my cheeks dry. “It’s not your fault. I didn’t think telling you mattered since the article was already out there. I just never imagined?—”
“You should, kiddo. You’re that good.” His tone is emphatic and warms me to the core.
As much as I’d love to tell him thank you, I can’t. I’m still too caught up in what this means for Luke and me. If there’s even any hope of an ‘and.’
Marty leans forward and clasps his hands on his blotter. “Why did Luke ask you to keep his face out of it? That’s kind of hard to do for a profile.”
“It has to do with his father. I had a picture picked out with his helmet on with his head turned more to the side, but I forgot to remove the other one from the upload folder.”
“You didn’t do it on purpose, kiddo. Tell him I’m the one to blame.”
I shake my head. “It was my mistake. I’m just not sure there’s a way to fix this. I broke his trust.”
He studies me and hums. “You’re in love with him, aren’t you?”
A knot forms so fast in my throat that I can’t speak, so I nod.
“Then don’t give up fighting for him. And if he doesn’t forgive you, then maybe he’s not the right guy for you after all.”
Marty may be right. And that would add a fourth strike on my romance record. I truly thought Luke was different than the first three boneheads I dated.
Perhaps I was wrong about him after all.
As soon as I filled Charlene in, she grabbed her purse, then dragged me across the street to get our favorite coffees at the Last Bean coffee shop. She even treated me to a double-sized portion of the local bakery’s stellar banana bread, which has become a known entity throughout Sarabella.
Char pushes her empty cup to the side. “Listen, I get how this looks, but I still think you should text him back and explain what happened.”
I shake my head. “What’s the point?”
“Um, hello! True love, maybe…possibly. Come on, Sophie. You have to at least try.”
“You know my track record. I suck at relationships. But I’ll think about it, okay?”
She lifts her eyes in a half roll. “Fine. I guess that’s better than a flat-out ‘no.’”
My phone buzzes on the table and my heartjumps when I see ‘Jameson’ crawl across the top of the screen. But it’s the first name that gives me pause—Kinsley.
I’m sure Luke has filled her in with his version of what happened, so there’s a good chance she’s mad at me too. However, I told her to call me if she ever needed help, so it could be that—only one way to find out.
I swipe to answer the call. “Hi, Kinsley. Everything okay?”
“That depends. Define okay.”
Definitely an edge to her voice, but that’s almost Kinsley’s norm, from what I seen so far. I cringe, mentally preparing myself for the onslaught about to be unleashed. “I’m guessing Luke told you about the article.”
“Actually, we found out at the same time. My neighbor across the hall recognized Luke from the picture. Really nice photo, by the way.”
“Um, thank you?” I do a mental double-take. Maybe she’s not as angry as I thought. “Kinsley, I had no idea my article would get picked up like that. My editor gave approval without asking me.” Realizing how that sounds, I rush in with an explanation. “But only because he believed that’s what I would want. Really and truly, it wasn’t intentional.”
Her breathy sigh filters over the connection. “I figured.”
“You did?”
“Yeah, just didn’t seem like something you would do.”
I hold a hand to my chest. “Thank you.”
“So, are you going to tell my boneheaded brother?”
