Still nothing by the time the school day had ended.
Sitting on the edge of her bed that night, she texted him again. She typed out and deleted about a half a dozen things before settling on the all-purpose, Hey.
Casual. Friendly. No big deal.
Even though his silence felt like a really big fucking deal.
Maybe it wasn’t supposed to matter that they had sex five freaking times. Or that he’d given her so many orgasms that she’d lost track of the number of them. Or that he’d called her baby.
But it did.
And even if none of those mattered, their friendship should’ve been more than enough to warrant a freaking Hey in return.
She typed again, This is where you say Hey back.
But by the morning, he still hadn’t. She actually debated swinging by his place on her way to work to make sure he was okay, but he was probably fine and she’d end up seeming desperate and clingy. Sighing, Kristina shot off a new text, to Kate this time. You around tonight?
For YOU, always, she replied quickly, a lifeline Kristina didn’t realize she’d needed so desperately until she had it.
Breathing a sigh of relief, she responded, You are the literal best.
Of course I am!
If was the first thing that eked a smile out of Kristina since she’d awakened alone.
Kate agreed to stop by after a work dinner, which was perfect because Kristina really didn’t want to describe what had happened out in public. Not knowing Kate the way she did. When Kate arrived a little after nine, Noah still hadn’t responded. And she’d sent another text and tried calling him once, too.
“Uh oh,” Kate said, taking one look at Kristina as she walked in the door. Kate wore a form-fitting black suit and a pair of killer black heels. “What happened?”
“Want a glass of wine?” Kristina asked.
“I better not. I had two at dinner. But I think you definitely should.” She kicked off her heels and settled onto the couch.
“Ha, well, I had two already, too, but another one can’t hurt.” Kristina poured herself a glass of white and grabbed a Diet Coke for Kate.
“You have dark circles under your eyes,” Kate said as she accepted the can of soda. Kristina dropped on the couch next to her. “The only other time I think I’ve seen that was that time junior year when your dad disappeared and the police found him five days later wandering the streets in L.A.”
God, Kristina remembered that. He’d believed someone was trying to harm him, and that he had to get far away as quickly as he could. So he’d taken a taxi to the airport and purchased a ticket on the first flight that would take him far away, to L.A. The only reason he hadn’t left the country was because he hadn’t taken his passport. But for five days she and her mom had no idea where he’d gone or if he was even alive.
“Well, this isn’t about my dad,” she said. He’d been doing much better for the past year so, the result of a new combination of medications. Well enough that he was now selling the beautiful furniture he’d always loved to make by hand. “It’s about Noah.”
“After what you revealed at dinner the other night, I thought it might be.” Kate took a drink of her soda, and Kristina recounted what’d happened. She hadn’t gotten any further than telling about their just-sex/just-for-one-night agreement, when Kate interrupted. “Oh, honey.”
“Yeah.”
“Did you really think that would work?” Kate asked.
“Honestly, at the time, part of me thought it could work and part of me didn’t care. He needed me, and he wanted me, and I wanted him, too. So I decided it was worth the risk and I just…went for it.” Kristina pulled a pillow into her lap and hugged it against her stomach.
Kate’s gaze narrowed, but after a moment, she nodded. “Okay, fair enough. And?”
“And the short version is that we had sex five times, had a fun dinner together, and fell asleep together. And when I woke up in the morning, he was gone. And now he’s not responding to any of my messages.” Tears threatened, clogging her throat and pricking at the backs of her eyes.
“You know at some point I’m going to want all the sexy details,” Kate said, her expression sympathetic. For some reason, Kate taking this so seriously made the pull of those tears even greater.
“Yeah, I know,” Kristina said, her voice strained. She’d been resisting the urge to cry since she’d woken up alone yesterday morning, telling herself over and over again not to jump to conclusions.
But two days had passed, and now the pressure was building up inside her, and she wasn’t sure what other conclusion to come to other than he wasn’t responding on purpose. Because she knew for a fact that the Cortezes would’ve called her if he’d been in an accident or something. Heck, after Josh, she was the second person Mrs. Cortez had called when they’d learned what’d happened to Noah in Iraq.