one dying alone?” I wondered out loud.
Bridge opened the door and wiggled his eyebrows at me. “Stop feeling sorry for yourself, man up with some of that Tennyson grit, and go troll her social media.”
I stared him down. “I can’t decide if this is the best pep talk or the absolute worst.”
He winked and shut the door behind him.
And I stupidly took his advice, grabbed my phone, and immediately started following her on Instagram.
Along with seventeen and a half million other fans.
Great advice, Bridge. Great.
Defeated, I tossed my phone against the couch and went in search of clean clothes.
Chapter Twenty-Three
KEATON
My hands would heal.
I wasn’t going to lose any digits.
And I was no longer trapped by a killer elk and three feet of snow.
And I was sad.
I told my parents not to fly in and sent them a nice little proof-of-life photo. I filled them in on the need-to-know details and told them I was camping out in their lavish apartment until I figured out my next move.
The only problem?
He was in the city.
And because of that, I found that I didn’t want to leave.
To make matters worse, the words were gone.
I stared at my laptop the very next day with a fresh cup of coffee in my hand and a strong feeling that everything was going to be okay. I just had to tell the story.
Except, the minute I started typing, I wasn’t thinking of Noah. I was thinking about Julian.
About his mouth.
The way he kissed me.
Every all-consuming smile he flashed my way, the teasing, and the look on his face when the ambulance pulled away.
I didn’t have his phone number, I hadn’t even thought about it. And now I felt weird just randomly looking him up and going, “Oh hey, remember me? The girl who coerced you into sex after chocolate chip cookies?”
I frowned at the laptop screen.
I hadn’t exactly coerced him.
It had been a joint decision, right?
I thought back about the hesitation in his eyes, the way he licked the chocolate from my lips and waited like he needed permission from me, and the embarrassing way I basically threw myself at him with wild abandon.
I squeezed my eyes shut and shook my head. It would be fine. I was alone in my parents’ Manhattan penthouse, and all I kept thinking was how I missed the cabin.
But I missed Julian more.
I put my hands on the keyboard and took a deep breath, just as my cell started to buzz.
Thank. God.
I didn’t recognize the number, but took it as a sign from the universe and quickly said, “Hello?”
“Keaton?” The feminine voice sounded familiar. “Keaton Westbrook?”
Great, another fan found my number. I was going to have to change it again. “Yeah, that’s me,” I said with fake excitement.
“Oh, good! Your publicist said this was the right one, but I wasn’t sure since she said you’ve had to change your number so many times. Anyways, I was calling to see if you’d like to go to the surprise party.”
“Surprise party,” I repeated like a parrot. “I’m sorry, who is this?”
“Oh God, I’m such an idiot. In my head I already told you. Ugh, pregnancy brain. This is Izzy Tennyson.”
My mouth went completely dry. “Oh, h-hey there.” I gulped and squeezed my eyes shut.
She laughed. “So the party is next Friday, they rented out the entire Met for Bridge and Julian’s birthday. It’s going to be incredible, and neither of them knows it’s happening, mainly because they’d both bail and get drunk in a closet somewhere rather than show up, and we can’t have that. Please say you’ll come!”
“Um . . .”
“It would mean a lot to Julian,” she said softly, apparently pulling out the big guns. “He was forced to take some time off, you know . . . at least three weeks. He’s going to be a grumpy bear, and it might be nice to have someone he likes there so he doesn’t scare everyone away.”
“He has you.” I said it without thinking.
She was silent and then, “Hard to believe, since we were friends first, but I’m not Julian’s favorite person, and I refuse to force forgiveness where it’s not earned. I deserve it, I made the choice, not Bridge, not Julian, but me. When love finds you, true love, it doesn’t give you the chance to say no, and you realize that you would rather suffer the rest of your life with your decisions than suffer without it.”
I sighed. Well, when she put it that way. “I’ll be there.”
“Great!” I