The Accidental Text

by Becky Monson

  Chase takes a large step backward, clasping his hands together in front of him, a sheepish look on his face. He turns around and looks at the wall of pictures I put up of my family doing adventurous things. I put it up after my mom died. It felt like therapy.

  Hannah takes a large breath, her eyes on me. “Is he a creeper?”

  “I’m right here,” Chase says, his back to us now.

  “No,” I say, shaking my head at her. “He’s been great.”

  “Well, he’s a terrible wingman. I saw Dawson and some chick getting cozy in the back corner of the tent. Robin?”

  “Natasha.”

  “Why is she here?”

  I let my shoulders slump. “She was invited.”

  Chase turns back toward us. “But she didn’t show up until after I got Maggie and Dawson on the dance floor.”

  “That’s true. Chase is a good wingman. We just didn’t know that Natasha was going to show.”

  “So you’re not like a stalker or anything,” Hannah says to Chase.

  “I’ve never been accused of it.” Chase holds out his hands as if to plead his innocence. “But also, I’d have to be a pretty awesome stalker to make it work out so Maggie would invite me tonight.”

  Hannah folds her arms. “That’s a solid point.” She breathes like a bull getting ready to charge, her lips puckered again. “You two do know how weird this is, right?”

  “Totally,” I say at the same time Chase says, “Super weird.”

  I give him a small smile, and he gives me one back. A secret smile. We just had this conversation in the Lambo. It is weird, but not for the reason Hannah thinks it is.

  “Okay fine. I guess you better tell me about yourself, Chase,” Hannah says.

  “What do you want to know?”

  “Are you married?”

  He snort laughs. “Uh … no.”

  “Okay, then are you in a serious relationship?”

  “No,” he says. “I mean, I feel pretty serious about my dog, Oscar.”

  Normal people would say something like how sweet at that comment. But animals don’t impress Hannah.

  “Do you live in your parents’ basement?”

  He pulls his chin back. “I have my own place in Tempe.”

  This takes a chink out of Hannah’s armor. Her shoulders fall a minuscule amount.

  It’s also something I didn’t know about Chase, but I probably shouldn’t call attention to that and give Hannah any extra fodder. There’s still so much I don’t know about him.

  “Do you have a job?” She eyes him warily.

  “I work at SurveyWave. In sales.”

  “I know that place,” she says. “My friend Ally Hawkins works there.”

  Chase’s brows shoot up. “I know Ally; I worked in her department up until I got a promotion last month. She’s great.”

  “Her dad works at my mom’s firm,” she says to me when I give her questioning eyes.

  Hannah pulls her phone out of the top of her dress. I hold back my lecture about how unsafe that is, but tuck it away for later. Right now is not the best time.

  She texts something, her thumbs moving rapidly over her keyboard.

  I scrunch my face at her. What’s she doing?

  “So, Chase in sales, how long have you worked for SurveyWave?” she asks once she’s finished texting.

  “Two years,” he says.

  “And do you plan on staying with them for a while?”

  “Hannah, Chase is not on trial,” I say.

  “I plan on it,” Chase answers her, and then gives me that signature half-smile of his. Like he doesn’t mind this and can handle Hannah. “I’m still training. I’m going to London in May to train there for a while.”

  “You are?” I ask, feeling my brows pulling inward.

  “Yeah, for like six months,” he says.

  Six months? My heart drops a little at this. I don’t know why. It’s just that … well, Chase and I only met officially tonight. I think I’d like to hang out with him more. There’s an instant comfort with Chase that I haven’t felt in a long time. It could be our shared bond of being motherless. But it feels like more than that. And now he’s leaving?

  Hannah’s phone starts to ding in rapid succession and she looks down at it. Her eyes widen as she scrolls through the multiple texts she’s just received.

  “Well, Chase,” Hannah says, “it appears you have a fan in Ally.”

  She shows the phone to me.

  Ally: I ADORE Chase!

  Ally: One of the best guys you’ll meet!

  Ally: Tell him hi for me!

  Ally: Tell him that his old dept misses him!

  Ally: Give him a hug for me!

  There are hearts and heart eyes all over the texts. I find it hard to believe that Hannah is friends with this person. If Hannah ever sent me heart eyes, I’d think her phone was stolen or she’d been kidnapped. Actually, I’d know it.

  I read the texts aloud and then look over at Chase, who’s now focused on the floor, his lips curled up just slightly, the tips of his ears turning pink. He’s cute when he’s embarrassed.

  “I’m not hugging you,” Hannah says.

  “That works,” says Chase.

  “Well,” Hannah says, “I guess we should get back to the party.” Apparently, Ally’s approval was enough for her.

  “You’re done? Don’t you want to ask Chase his Social Security number? Grill him until he gives you the PIN code to his ATM card?” I ask, my tone sarcastic.

  She turns to Chase, her back straight. “Thank you for being Maggie’s wingman tonight,” she says, her tone almost robotic. “Also, I’m very sorry about your mom.”

  Chase just gives her a taut smile and a head nod. He’s so much stronger than I was at this point in my grief. For at least a month, anytime anyone told me how sorry they were, I’d immediately tear up. There’s no sign of tears in Chase’s eyes right now, not anything more than the stoic dip of his chin he just gave Hannah. I’m not judging him. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from my mom’s death, it’s that everyone grieves differently.

  With that, Hannah turns and walks out the door.

  “She likes you,” I say.

  Chase exhales deeply. “She’s scary.”

  “You’re not the first person to say that.”

  Chapter 18

  “Who was that guy you were getting cozy with at the party?”

  I inwardly groan. I’d made it through the entire Drives for Dreams meeting without one word from Chelsea. She even made it to the doorway of my office before turning around to interrogate me.

  I’d hoped maybe she didn’t notice, maybe for once in my life she didn’t pay attention. No such luck.

  And now she has her judging face on.

  “What?” I scrunch my face at her, like I have no idea what she’s asking. Even though I know exactly what she’s asking.

  After Hannah grilled Chase, we went back to the party. We danced, drank, ate, and had fun. Real fun. More fun than I can remember having in a long time. I smiled and laughed so much, my cheeks hurt.

  “The guy … the one in the black suit. You were dancing with him. I saw him holding your hand.” Her lip curls up.

  “Oh, that guy,” I say, reaching up and tugging on my k pendant.

  I didn’t think she’d caught the hand-holding. Especially since it was at an emotional part of the evening when my dad got on the microphone and gave a little speech, thanking everyone for a great twenty-five years. Then he choked up as he said he wished the person who’d had his back and been right by his side during nearly all of those twenty-five years could be there.

  Chase had grabbed my hand, intertwining our fingers during that part. Tears were escaping my eyes, and I latched on to the comfort. It didn’t even feel foreign for him to do it. I’d say that our texting thing has turned into a real, bona fide friendship. Or, at least, the beginning of one.

  Chelsea stands in the doorway staring at me, awaiting an answer.


  “Don’t you have Drives for Dreams to work on?”

  “I do, but I have a minute and this is what I’m choosing to do with my minute.”

  Of course. Fortunately, I have a story all made up in my head for this exact conversation that I knew I wouldn’t be able to avoid. I got a lot of questioning stares from Chelsea that night at the party. I knew I’d get grilled later. Not for the hand-holding part, though. I should have known better.

  “He’s a potential client,” I say. “Nice guy. We got to chatting after I gave him info about a wrap for his new car.”

  I pray that didn’t sound as rehearsed to Chelsea as it did to me. I thought it was a great story and would also lead into everyone understanding why Chase and I would hang out in the future. For everyone but Hannah, it will look like we hit it off at the party and a friendship blossomed. That’s sort of what happened. He did get invited to the party, and a friendship did blossom. I’ll just be taking all the other stuff that led up to it to my grave. Especially where Chelsea is concerned.

  She puts a hand on her hip. “Who invited him?”

  “No idea,” I say with a shrug.

  This was also part of my story. I could have blamed Devon for inviting Chase, but she could easily ask him. I thought about blaming Chad but then didn’t want Chase associated with him. So I went with having no idea. I texted all of this to Chase yesterday so he was on board. Not that I plan on parading him around my family anytime soon.

  “Interesting,” Chelsea says, and I look up to see her giving me her squinty eyes.

  “Indeed.” I nod my head. I will not give in. Chelsea will never know how Chase really ended up coming to the party.

  Chelsea twists her lips to the side, thinking. “You don’t think he was one of those creepy party crashers, do you?”

  “No,” I say, sounding offended. I feel like I need to defend Chase, which is silly. “He’s genuinely interested in getting his car wrapped.”

  “Who wants his car wrapped?” Devon says, moving into my office doorway, next to Chelsea.

  “Chase,” I say.

  “Oh, yeah. That guy,” Devon says.

  Thank goodness Devon showed up. He can vouch for Chase and then Chelsea can get off my back.

  “You met him?” she asks.

  “Yeah,” he says. “Nice guy … buying a Lexus.”

  “LC five hundred,” I add.

  “Right,” he says, pointing at me. “Why are you asking?” He turns to Chelsea.

  “I saw him holding Maggie’s hand,” Chelsea says, a very tattletale tone to her voice.

  Devon pulls his chin inward and squints his eyes at me. “He held your hand?”

  “He was just comforting me during Dad’s speech.”

  “Oh.” Devon nods, totally accepting this answer. Of course he would; he’s a guy. Men know that holding hands is not as big of a deal to them as it is to women. Not that I read anything into Chase holding my hand the way he did. It was comfort. A gesture of understanding.

  “Also, his mom passed away not that long ago. So … he gets it.”

  “Oh,” Chelsea says, her facial expression changing to a more sympathetic one. Maybe I should have led with this.

  “That sucks,” says Devon.

  “Yeah,” I agree.

  Silence lands on the room. I recognize the empathetic look on Devon’s and Chelsea’s faces.

  “How are we all feeling about June?” I finally say, hoping to change the subject, but also wanting to know. My dad hasn’t come in yet today, so I feel comfortable speaking freely.

  Devon shrugs. “It’s … whatever.”

  “I don’t love it,” Chelsea says.

  “Me neither.”

  There’s a knock on the wall behind Chelsea’s head. Devon turns. “Dawson,” he says with that bro voice of his.

  “Just came to talk to Maggie,” Dawson says. I can barely see his face over the top of Chelsea’s shoulder.

  Devon and Chelsea excuse themselves, and Chelsea gives me a look that says, We aren’t done talking about this before leaving.

  “Hey,” I say as Dawson walks into my office. He’s back in his coveralls. I miss that charcoal-gray suit he wore to the party. It was a sight to behold. He looks good in his work attire too. It just leaves a lot more to the imagination than that suit did.

  The image of Natasha’s arms wrapped around him pops up in my head. They left together at the end of the party. I guess they must be back together. Surprisingly, I didn’t get that sinking feeling in my gut when I saw them walking hand in hand toward the parking lot.

  That’s not true. My stomach did a full plummet. But then Chase made a joke about Fluffy Barbie and I got over it.

  Today, I feel almost a sense of relief as he walks into my office. I’m relieved because first, he saved me from more grilling by Chelsea, and second, I no longer have to waste my time and energy on making my feelings known to him. I’ll just get over them and let those butterflies I get in my stomach whenever he’s around fly away into the sky.

  That may take some time. Right now the butterflies are fighting for space. I take a breath.

  “What can I do for you?” I ask.

  “Got a question for you.” He takes a seat in one of the guest chairs in front of my desk.

  “Is it about Chad?”

  “It … is,” he says, with a thin smile. “It’s an HR question, actually.”

  “Oh, great. What’s our dear friend Chad done now?”

  “Well, he thought it would be funny to wrap all my tools in vinyl.”

  I nod my head. I mean … that is kind of funny.

  “Right,” I say, mirroring his unamused grimace, holding in my smile. “Well, didn’t we decide it was time to let him go?”

  “I asked Devon,” he says.

  “What did he say?”

  “He asked me to keep him around a little longer.”

  “I mean, it’s technically your call, not Devon’s.”

  He gives me a nod. “Okay, that’s what I thought. I just wanted to make sure with you before I do anything.”

  I furrow my brow, looking down at my desk. Is it just me, or does this conversation feel … contrived? There was no real reason for us to have this talk since we already sort of did, the night before the party. And it’s about Chad. Of course.

  “It was fun …”

  I look up at him. “Fun?”

  He smiles, apologetically. Like he didn’t mean for the words to escape his mouth. “Yeah … the party. It was fun.”

  “It was,” I say. I want to add no thanks to you but decide that’s probably not my best move. Chase was the real reason I had fun at the party.

  “I’m sorry we didn’t get to dance more.”

  Oh. That’s not what I thought he was going to say. I didn’t really have a notion of what he was going to say, but it definitely wasn’t that.

  “Me too,” I say. “But, you had Natasha.”

  “Yeah,” he says. “I didn’t …” He stops himself again, holding out his hand, palm up. “I didn’t invite her, just so you know.”

  I shake my head. “We said you could bring a guest.”

  “Well, I hadn’t planned on it. She’d called me that day and I told her about the party … and she just showed up.”

  And then you walked off hand in hand as you left.

  “Well,” I say. “It was … fine for her to be there. Glad you had fun.”

  “I did. You?”

  “I … did too,” I say. I want to throw out and so did Chad because it feels so natural to bring him back into a conversation with Dawson. But Chad had to be sent home in a taxi—he got so drunk he could barely walk. I mean, maybe that’s fun for Chad. I prefer to remember my parties.

  “You seemed to spend a lot of time with that guy, Chase,” he says.

  So he noticed that. I thought I’d caught him glancing my way a couple of times.

  “Yeah,” I say. “We have a lot in common, it turns out.”

  “Oh?”
r />   “Uh … his mom also died recently.”

  “Oh,” Dawson says, giving me a sad smile.

  “So we had a lot to talk about.”

  “Right,” he says.

  “Well, I guess you and Natasha are …” I let that sentence trail off because why would I even say that? And because I don’t think I want to know the answer. Apparently, my subconscious did.

  Dawson doesn’t seem that taken aback by it. “It’s complicated.”

  Ah, yes. The old “it’s complicated” line.

  “I hope it gets … un … complicated.” Oh, wow. I should just bring the conversation back to Chad. Right now.

  He places his hands on the tops of his thighs and stands up from the chair. “See you later, Maggie,” he says.

  ~*~

  My phone beeps as I lie in my bed later that night, staring at the heart shape on the ceiling, thinking about so many things. The party, the conversation with Dawson … Chase.

  I pat around the side of the bed where I’m pretty sure I set my phone and pull it up to my face once I find it. I see Chase’s name and I smile.

  Chase: I have an idea

  Maggie: Should I be scared?

  Chase: Maybe

  Maggie: Let’s hear it

  Chase: Well, I’m texting you right now, so you’ll have to read it.

  Maggie: You’re an idiot

  Chase: Okay, so … you need to jump out of a plane in May, yes?

  Maggie: Correct. The 15th.

  Chase: And I’m leaving for London on the 14th.

  I send him a sad face.

  Chase: Yeah. I’ve already pushed off the date. They wanted me to go last month but postponed so I could have more time with my family after my mom …

  It occurs to me that I would have never met Chase if my mom hadn’t died. And we wouldn’t have gotten to know each other if his mom hadn’t. In fact, he would be in London right now, training. And I’d just be living my life here in Scottsdale. Never to even know who he was. Life is strange.

  Chase: So … I want to jump out of a plane.

  Maggie: ??

  Chase: I want to do something daring.

  Maggie: ??

  Chase: I’ve never done anything adventurous. And I just feel like … I should.

  Maggie: Okay …