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He looked at her like she was crazy and said, “Most of these places have stages.”

“Yeah, but there’s a sofa, too,” she said.

He shrugged and replied, “I’m sure a lot of them have sofas, too.”

“It’s blue inside, or it was last year, at least.”

The bouncer just shook his head no.

“Right,” she said with a nod. “Thanks,” she added for some reason.

Noticing a restaurant on a cross street, Bryce decided she had to eat something, so she walked inside and had to wait for fifteen minutes before they had a table for one. Then, she finally sat down and ordered a water, which she desperately needed, and a sandwich. She checked her phone again and saw no response from Sophie.

Bryce Wilburn: I can’t find her, and she’s not messaging me back.

Within seconds, Megan was typing.

Megan Underwood: What? Where are you?

Bryce Wilburn: At a restaurant. I haven’t eaten all day. I can’t find the bar. I’m so stupid, Megs. I didn’t even ask her the name of it. I thought I’d find it, but now, I’m sitting at a restaurant, getting food because I’m starving and she’s not responding to my texts.

Megan Underwood: Call her!

Bryce Wilburn: If she’s not messaging me back, she’s not going to answer my call.

Kelsey Jenkins: Megs is right. Call her.

Bryce sighed and moved over to Sophie’s contact. She waited impatiently as the phone rang, but then, it just went to voicemail.

“Hi. This is Sophie. Please leave a message, and I’ll call you back.”

“Soph, it’s me. I’m at some restaurant in the Quarter. Where are you? Did you get scared? It’s okay if you did. Please just text me or call me or something. I’m getting worried.”

Bryce hung up and moved back to her messages.

Bryce Wilburn: I got her voicemail.

Kelsey Jenkins: I’ll kill her for doing this to you.

Megan Underwood: I’m sure she’s stuck at work, or it’s just some misunderstanding. She wouldn’t make you fly all the way there and not meet you.

Kelsey Jenkins: I’ll still kill her.

Bryce told them she was going to eat and call them when she got back to her hotel. When her food arrived, she stared down at it, knowing she needed to eat it, but she’d suddenly lost her appetite.

CHAPTER 19

Sophie was seething. She had been all day, if she was being honest, but she definitely was right now. Her cell phone was sitting in a box at the front of the room, along with all the others, while the company’s vice president continued to drone on and on. This day was supposed to end at five. Instead, they’d started the first meeting late, after not providing breakfast like they said they would, and now, she was sitting here at six o’clock, trying not to scream when they told the group they were going to bring in the leftover sandwiches from lunch for anyone whomightbe hungry.

Mightbe hungry… Lunch was the same shitty sandwiches, and they’d eaten them at noon. Sophie had brought her own lunch, but not her owndinner, and she wouldn’t be eating leftover gross sandwiches that looked as if they’d been made two days ago anyway. Most importantly, though, her phone was on silent in a stupid box by the door because she’d gotten in trouble for checking it during the meeting before lunch. They’d allowed them all to check any important messages on a break earlier, but phones had to go back into the box after. Her coworkers were still glaring because many of them scrolled through their phones under the table during meetings like this, and she’d lost them the opportunity to occupy themselves throughout the day.

It was six-thirty now, and she was beyond angry. She was certain that it was written all over her face, and she no longer cared. She was late for Bryce, forherBryce. She tried to stand up slowly from her seat in the back of the room, planning to go to the bathroom because they hadn’t offered another break in a long time. Having managed to make it close to the door, she reached for her phone inside the box.

“Sophie,” the president of the company said.

“I have to use the bathroom. I’ll be right back,” she replied.

“Fine. But the phone stays. You know the rules.”