Page 25 of Heat Advisory

“Why don’t you go take a hot shower, grab a good book to read, and just relax for the rest of the night,” Iris suggested, and it sounded like a great idea.

“Yeah, you’re probably right.”

“I usually am,” she teased, pausing as a new thought came to her. “Did you try reaching out to Morgan to make sure something serious didn’t happen?”

“No, but I should,” I told her.

“Give him twenty-four hours,” she said. “Just in case. If you don’t hear anything after that, then I’ll personally help you get rid of him.”

She gave me her best wicked smile, and I chuckled.

“I can’t kill my best friend’s brother, Iris,” I quipped, noticing her facial expression change to concerned, perhaps borderline scared, as a loud noise sounded close to her.

“Well…judging by what Nancy is dragging out of her apartment right now, I think she might be planning to take care of this for you all on her own.”

My eyes grew large and my mouth opened at her comment.

“Umm…I need to let you go,” Iris said, her face still pointed in the direction of where I guessed Nancy was. “If she calls you…don’t answer. Love you. I’ll call you tomorrow.”

I was about to tell her I loved her back, only to hear her yell at Nancy to stop, and then the phone call ended.

I sat there, stunned and slightly nervous about what Nancy was doing. I decided a hot shower was calling my name, so I got up and made my way to my room.

My phone rang no more than sixty seconds after I set it down on my nightstand to charge. Knowing it was likely Nancy, I decided to just let it go to voicemail and made my way to my bathroom instead.

Twenty minutes later, I had my wet hair wrapped up in a towel on top of my head and my thick, soft robe wrapped around my body, and I grabbed my phone to head into the kitchen to make myself a cup of tea.

Tapping the screen, I noticed a missed call and text. I stopped dead in my tracks as I stared at the name on the screen.

Jay.

I opened his voicemail and listened to his message several times.

He hadn’t meant to ghost me.

I wanted to be mad at him for what had happened, but I also understood. My own job did that sometimes, and so did Iris’s. It was the nature of the beast when you worked in careers that required people twenty-four-seven.

I broke up with the last guy I dated because he hadn’t understood this. It would be entirely unfair for me to be pissed at Jay for that same reason.

My phone buzzed in my hand, but it was Morgan’s name, not Jay’s. I answered the call quickly.

“Hey,” I greeted her.

“Cora,” she said quickly into the phone, sounding very rushed and urgent. “I don’t know how much time I have, so you have to talk fast, but my brother is on his way to your house.”

Her tone implied she wasn’t supposed to tell me that.

“What?” I asked, hoping I had heard her wrong.

“Where are you? Are you at your house?” she began asking questions in rapid-fire, leaving me no ability to respond. “He’s on his way there! He said you were supposed to have breakfast together—for a date! Which…how could you not tell me!”

That last part ended on a screech, causing me to pull the phone away from my ear.

“Why is he coming here?” I asked her. “How does he know where I live?”

“I told him because he said he needed to apologize in person for missing your date,” she replied in a much calmer manner than a moment ago.

It was at that moment that I glanced down at myself. Oh crap.