Wes turned on a basketball game but couldn’t concentrate. He couldn’t shake his unease.
There were plenty of reasons why Cara might not text him back. They might still be shooting, or she went out with Skye after work—or she’d been in a car accident.
He took several long, deep breaths but couldn’t completely shed his tension.
As the evening wore on, his eyes rose to the dark front windows each time a set of headlights approached. But none turned into their driveway.
Where the hell is she?
When his phone rang, Wes snatched it from the table, but instead of Cara’s smiling contact pic, it was Jin’s avatar displayed across the illuminated screen, and his heart sank.
“What’s up?”
“Sorry, did I wake you up?” Jin asked.
“It’s only eleven,” Wes said, mostly to reassure himself.
“Normal adults are asleep at this hour.You’reusually asleep now,” Jin pointed out.
“If it’s so late, why are you calling?”
“Okay, cranky,” he drawled. “I didn’t know if Cara mentioned it, or if she even knew we had an appointment at the studio tomorrow, but they’ve cancelled it. Apparently, Brian sold the company today.” He snorted. “He said he’d give our information to the new owners, but that they’ve shut down production for a few days.”
Wes frowned. “Are they going to finish the movie? It’s so close to being done.”
“No idea, but if I had to guess, I’d say yes. Why buy a movie studio and then scrap an almost finished movie?”
“I’m sure Cara will appreciate the days off.” Wes said. “They’ve been working a lot of long days trying to make up the schedule from when Lia was out.”
That was one bright spot, he thought. Lately, Wes had noticed the dark circles under Cara’s eyes were more prominent than usual against her pale skin. She always looked worn out when she got home from the late shoots. Wes frowned as he registered what Jin said. “She’s still not home.”
There was a pause. “They wrapped a couple hours ago.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because I talked to Brian—that’s how I knew he had sold the studio.”
“Then why isn’t she here?”
“She probably went out with friends after work to celebrate the unexpected days off. Why do you care?”
“Well, she could have at least let me know.”
There was another long pause from Jin’s side before he quietly laughed. “You want your roommate to let you know when she’s going to be late?”
Wes scowled. “It’s just manners. Keep the people you live with informed.”
“I don’t remember you ever worrying about where I was when we were roommates.”
“She’s a girl.”
Jin snorted with laughter. “I wouldn’t say that to her if you want to live.”
“Good point.” But Wes wasn’t ready to let it go. It suddenly became imperative that his best friend agree with him. Agree that he had the right to worry, that it was totally normal and not because he had anything other than totally boring, platonic feelings for his roommate.
“But it’s rude, right? She normally texts when she’s going to be late from work. She even sticks up her call sheet so I can put whatever weird, new healthy dish she has for us in the oven. What if I’d put her food in the oven already? Her dinner would be ruined!”
“Her dinner would be ruined? Can you repeat that?”
