Jersey Six - Jewel E Ann Page 0,107
to their gate. She knew their code too but decided not to freak them out quite yet.
The short-haired brunette nodded, padding toward the gate while messing with her phone. The gate opened. “Hi. I’m Eve Blevins. It’s nice to meet you.” She held out her hand, and Jersey shook it.
“You too. Say, I’m looking for Ian. He’s not still staying with you by any chance, is he?”
“No. He’s renting a place now, I believe.”
“I see. Do you happen to know where that is?”
“No. Sorry.” She gave Jersey a sad smile.
“Do you happen to have his phone number? I had it in my old phone, but I left it behind a couple of months ago, so I don’t have his number now.”
Eve bit her lower lip and nodded slowly. “Um … don’t take this personally, but I’m not really comfortable giving out his personal information.”
“Oh. Sure. Yeah, um …” Jersey glanced around, looking for another solution.
“But if you have a new phone now, I’d be willing to send him your number, and he can contact you if he wants to.”
“Okay. That works.”
Eve brought up another screen on her phone and typed in Jersey’s name. “Okay, what is it?”
She gave Eve her number. “Tell him I just want to leave things good between us. Karma or something like that according to my new friend.”
New friend.
Jersey inwardly smiled. She had a job, and she wasn’t screwing her boss. She had normal hours. Coworkers who weren’t jealous of her relationship with their boss. A phone that she bought on her own. And money in the bank to go toward rent at some point. And most nights she found a place to sleep at a shelter. Oh … and she had a friend.
“I’ll just tell him you’d like him to call you when he gets a chance.”
“Thanks.” Jersey smiled.
Eve’s thumbs moved across the screen of her phone. Then she held it up for Jersey to see. “There. Message sent.”
Nerves teased Jersey’s stomach like they did when she arrived in the neighborhood, like they did when she rang his doorbell, like they did when she first met him.
Message sent.
She hoped to get the chance to talk to him again, and suddenly that made her body do really crazy things inside.
Jersey meandered down the winding road of the valley, finally ordering a ride before the sun set any lower in the sky. It took her back to the diner where she had a locker to keep her things until she found something permanent. After retrieving her bag, she hopped on the bus to head to the shelter.
Her phone chimed as she stared out the window. She didn’t recognize the number which meant it had to be Ian. Her tummy flipped in one direction and then the other direction as her pulse doubled in response.
“Hello?”
Silence.
“Hello?” she repeated.
“Hey.”
Nothing could have prepared her for hearing his voice after so long—months that felt like years.
“Hi. Um … I went to your house. I see it’s still not fixed.”
“Not yet.” He sounded tired.
She bit the end of her thumbnail, fighting the nerves. Why so many nerves? It was closure. Making things right. Finding good Karma, whatever that meant. “So I was talking to my friend, Natasha. She goes to college and she helped me get a job, but that’s not my point.” She closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. Who was the blubbering girl failing to articulate her reason for contacting him?
“You have a job?” Ian still sounded tired, but his voice held a smidge more life or curiosity.
“Yeah. I’m not selling out stadiums or anything like that. But it’s a job. I wait tables at a diner. The tips are good.”
The line went dead for a long moment.
Jersey cleared her throat. “So, Natasha thinks it’s good to end relationships with no hard feelings. Like making things right before closing a door. Karma … something or another like that. I’m not really skilled in that area, but she seems pretty smart, so …”
“So …” Ian echoed. Maybe it wasn’t exhaustion in his voice. Maybe it was something else. Anger? Sadness?
“I think we left things … not so great. Do you think … I don’t know … maybe we should say whatever needs to be said so things are good?” The girl who had zero experience with relationships made a terrible attempt at fixing one. Just to end it properly? She didn’t know. It sounded weird when she thought of it like that.
“Where are you?” he asked.
“On a bus.”
“Where