After dinner, even though the night was still young, Chris went to his room to be alone. He sat on the side of his bed with both feet on the floor, staring at his phone in his hand for a long time.

Allie’s last call continued to disturb him to no end; he was so tempted to erase it and try to forget about it. But he knew he couldn’t. For one thing, this could serve as useful evidence later, if things took a turn for the worse. For another thing, even if he did remove the dark message from the phone, there was no earthly way he could remove it from memory.

Slick move, Allie. Very slick.

Lying, infidelity, exploitation…was there any level the lady wouldn’t stoop to? 

Justin’s right. This girl is as fine a piece of work as they come. And I’m the unlucky guy she had to land her paws on.

Along with thoughts of Allie came thoughts of Jamie. Chris hadn’t expected that other girl to still show interest in him, least of all call him. Her call, while the complete opposite of Allie’s, took him by surprise in its own way.

Now what? Should he call Jamie back?

Maybe it was only fair. Of course, it didn’t have to mean anything serious. He might not be dating anybody anymore, but that didn’t mean he had to alienate himself from all women. He could still talk to them and be nice.

Besides, something about Jamie appealed to him, even now. She was so cute—maybe not in a way that would instantly light someone’s fire, but bubbly and bright, totally down-to-earth, and totally approachable. A far cry from the other ladies he’d known, that was for sure. At any rate, Chris didn’t see how he could fare any worse with her.

So he played Jamie’s message one more time, finding himself smiling a little at her shyness, and pushed the button that dialed her number automatically.

After three rings, he heard, “Hello?”

“Hi, is this Jamie?”

“Chris?”

His smile broadened. “Yeah, it’s me.”

He heard a squeal at the other end, and Jamie’s voice rose an octave or two. “Holy cow, I can’t believe it!”

“Believe it.”

Jamie faltered for a few seconds before blurting, “I never expected to hear from you!”

“I could very well say the same about you.”

“Oh, my gosh, I’m freaking out over here! This is too cool!”

“I’m flattered. How are you? You doing all right since our last interaction?”

“I—I’m okay. How about you?”

Unsure of how to answer that, Chris ended up telling her, “I’ve been better and I’ve been worse. These last couple of weeks have been crazy.”

“Yeah, I’ll bet.” Jamie paused, then said, “I hope I’m not bothering you.”

“Oh, no, you’re perfectly fine. I was very glad to get your call. I’m just sorry I missed you the first time.”

“I understand. I still can’t believe I’m talking to you now.”

“Well, it’s good to talk to you now,” said Chris, and meant it. “How’s your friend, that other girl? Nat, is it?”

“Yeah, Nat. She’s doing fine, thank you. She landed a new job recently.”

“Oh, really? What does she do?”

“Nothing too thrilling. Mostly she bags groceries and stocks shelves, but it’s a paycheck. Plus, she gets a nice discount when she shops there.”

“Oh, yeah, who wouldn’t refuse a nice discount?”

They spent the next half-hour talking about simple, unembellished things, and yet Chris enjoyed the conversation immensely. Jamie listened to everything he had to say and never pried about anything. Still, he took care not to drop any hints about who he was, and he steered well clear of the subject of Allie.

At one point, he found himself saying, “Hey, listen, Jamie, would you like to meet with me sometime? Some place where we can see each other and have a real talk?”

She never hesitated. “Sure, I’d love to. What’d you have in mind?”

“Well…how about meeting up at Friendly’s just off Birch Avenue, and we can have ice cream while we’re there? I’ll buy.”

“That’ll be terrific! I love Friendly’s, and I’m a hopeless ice cream addict. I could eat that stuff until I passed out.”

He laughed. “What time would suit you?”

“Any time that suits you.”

Chris’s heart jumped. A lump swelled in his throat even as his smile lingered. Even on a platonic level, this was the first time in ages that a woman took his schedule into honest account. When he was sure he could keep his voice steady, he asked, “Would next Friday be all right? Five-thirty?”

“Sounds perfect! I’ll see you then.”

“Okay, awesome!” Already, he found himself counting the days until next Friday.

“Thank you so much, Chris, for both the call and the invitation.”

“Thank you.” 

“Bye.”

“Bye.”