“Trust me, this is huge. I’ll want to advertise it,” I said.
“Good. Once we edit it a couple of times and really get going, I’ll give you the date of publication, so you can post it somewhere.”
“Thank you. Really.”
“Are there any other questions on your part, Miss Mathews?”
“Nope. That’s it for me. I’ll get started on my research today. Do you want me to compile it along with a rough draft of how I plan to lay out the article?” I asked.
“No need. That’s what the first draft is for. It doesn’t need to be perfect. We’ll dissect it further with you in the office.”
“I’ll get it to you as soon as I can,” I said.
“We’re looking forward to it.”
I hung up the call, and my mind drifted back to Rhett. I felt like a fool for dodging him the way I had. If I had knocked on his door to talk to him or gone to that damn dinner and tried to find him, we could have cleared this up. If I had set my anger aside for one moment to get to the truth instead of getting into my head about it, this would have turned out differently. I could be calling Rhett right now and rejoicing in this article. I could be listening to him telling me how proud he was. We could be making plans to go out and celebrate since he was still local.
But I couldn’t. I had ruined it with my fragile emotions and my unstable state of mind. He seemed within my reach, but he was still so far away. This article was huge. It would give me a voice into one of the largest states that digested most of the East Coast’s paper-published news. This article would run on the front page of their website and broadcast my voice to the world.
And yet, the only person I wanted to tell was the only person I couldn’t find.
My phone rang, drawing me away from my thoughts. I wheeled away from my desk and over to my bed and then picked my cell phone up from the comforter. I saw Anna was calling, and I braced myself for the mental energy to have yet another conversation.
All I wanted to be was left alone.
“Hey there,” I said.
“Don’t sound so happy to hear from me. How did the meeting go?”
“It went really well. We laid out the groundwork, and now I need to get started on my research. I hate to break the conversation short, but I really need to get started.”
“That’s fine. I just wanted to check up on you,” she said.
“You sound happy.”
“I know that’s a foreign concept to you right now, but you’ll get there,” she said.
“Quit being snarky and tell me why you’re so happy. You didn’t call just to see how the meeting went, did you?”
“I just … wanted to call and tell you before you found out somewhere else.”
“What?” I asked. “What’s going on? Are you okay, Ana?”
“Oh yeah. I’m great. I had a date last night.”
“Like an actual date? Or one of your meet-ups after having food kind of date?”
“No, you bitch. An actual date. You know, where he picks me up and takes me out. He pays, and he tells me I’m gorgeous. He takes me back to his place, he worships me, and then he drives me home after making me breakfast.”
“Holy shit, you went on an actual date, and by the sounds of it, he liked it as much as you did,” I said. “Who was it with?”
“That’s why I called.”
“What? Please tell me it wasn’t that dumb Jarrod guy you were fucking around with before the cruise.”
“No. I went out with Tommy.”
Hearing his name was like a punch to my gut. She had gone on a date with Tommy? They were in contact? How was that possible? Had they exchanged information after the cruise? When had she seen Tommy to do something like that? Had he told her what I’d said to him in anger that last night? This was so unlike Ana, and my mind was back to spinning. Was Tommy in contact with Rhett? He had to have been. The two of them were best friends. He might know where Rhett is. He would know how to get in contact with him. He would know where he lived.