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“The same shit.” He shook his head. “It’s not like we had anything new until very recently. But for half an hour every Tuesday morning we go through it all again while trying to brainstorm new ideas.”

Unsettled by the information, Charlotte flopped back onto Jayson’s couch. Defeated.

“If I see some way to help that won’t land me in jail, I’ll do it,” he promised.

“Even if it gets her o the hook and you don’t reel in this big fish your boss’ boss is obsessed with?” Charlotte didn’t dare get her hopes up.

Jayson shrugged. “I’ve gotten a lot of good opportunities since this all started. Made some decent busts. I’ll be alright traveling in the slow lane. I’m more concerned about what you’

ve gotten yourself involved in. How deep in are you, Charlie?”

Charlotte took a deep breath and confessed. If he was going to find a way to help, he might as well know the whole sorted tale. When she was finished, she’d have an even larger unknown to deal with: Alex’s reaction to her unvarnished truth.

CHAPTER 40

DISTRACTED, Alex re-started the email she’d been writing for the third time. Working from home had turned out to be equally as ine ective as toiling in the o ce.

When Charlotte’s name popped up on her phone, Alex exhaled. It had been over twelve hours since she’d heard from her. Alex didn’t consider herself the needy type, but given that Charlotte was feeling badly in the morning, she’d worried. That worry only increased when Charlotte didn’t answer her call in the afternoon or her text when she was heading home.

Reaching for the cell vibrating against her kitchen counter, Alex tried to ignore the massive pit in her stomach.

Something was o , she could feel it in her gut. She adjusted her reading glasses and unlocked her screen.

Charlotte: Can I come over?

Alex furrowed her brow. As soon as she realized there was more going on than Charlotte sleeping in, she’d been wondering what exactly was happening. Her first guess was that the trip to meet her family had been too much, but that didn’t feel right.

She wondered whether confessing the depths of her feelings might have scared Charlotte o . She hadn’t returned her declaration of love, but that hadn’t bothered Alex. There were a lot of ways to show love and she expected someone as slow to open up as Charlotte wouldn’t be ready to throw the L word around. Not that Alex used it lightly, but it was the only possibility for Charlotte’s distance since they parted.

Alex: Are you feeling better?

Charlotte: I really need to see you.

Clenching her jaw, Alex reached for her glass of red wine.

The sinking feeling in her chest was only intensifying. She drained the glass and braced for a breakup.

Alex: Come over.

While she waited for Charlotte, Alex finished half a bottle of pinot noir. She wouldn’t cry, she decided early on. She gave herself permission to fall apart when she left, but she wouldn’t allow the indignity of histrionics.

The longer she waited, the more her heart ached. Could things have really changed so quickly? Barcelona had felt like the start of something new. Something deeper.

When the camera near the gate signaled a visitor, Alex’s heart raced. She hit the button and let her in. It was time to get it over with.

Charlotte’s knock at the side door made Alex’s adrenaline shoot a spike into her skull. Her suddenly throbbing head made her regret the wine.

Standing in her doorway, darkened by the evening, with hands buried in the pocket of a hoodie and wearing tights, Charlotte looked like a teenager about to get grounded.

“Come in,” Alex said, stepping back to let her inside.

“I’m sorry I’ve been MIA,” she started, her face trained on the floor as she lingered near the door.

“Do you want to sit or are we going to do this right here?”

Alex heard the lethal edge to her tone, but she couldn’t pull it back.

Charlotte looked up at her. In the light of the living room, she noticed the extensive swelling around her bloodshot eyes. Her heart leapt and her arms followed.