The Worst Friend Then You Can All Lose My Number novel · Chapter 11 of 24

Chapter 11: Sawdust

I went to the shop alone on Wednesday night, with the Lisbon log printed and folded in my jacket.

The roll-up door was open a foot, with light coming out underneath.

Caleb was sanding a tabletop under the lamp, in a gray T-shirt with sawdust on the front.

He heard my boots and turned off the sander.

"Carys."

I took the paper out and slapped it on his workbench.

"Second line from the bottom."

He read it.

I watched his face.

He did not look surprised.

"Say it," I said. "You made a call to the Lisbon hotel. It's your number."

"It's my number."

"You told me you only heard one."

"I did only hear one." He set the paper down carefully. "Two days before the Lisbon flight, Joss said her phone was dead. She asked to borrow mine for a quick call about the rooms."

"You gave it to her."

"I gave it to her. I went to get a beer. I didn't listen."

"That's the call."

"That's the call. It's on my number, and I didn't know what it was." His voice dropped. "I only knew after I heard her on her own phone, two days later. Then I put it together."

"And you said nothing."

"No."

"I got screamed at in a hotel lobby for forty minutes, Caleb. You stood next to me with the luggage."

"I know."

"You watched Jared scream at me, and you knew Joss had been on the phone with that hotel."

"I knew something. I didn't know the whole thing."

"You knew enough!"

The echo rang off the brick.

I was shaking, and I hated that I was.

"Why?" I asked. "You gave me a pen in Mexico City when mine ran dry. You carried my bag in Banff. Why did you never tell me?"

He crossed the floor in three steps and stopped in front of me.

"Because you were with Jared," he said. "And I'm in love with you, and I have been since Mexico City, and I thought if I told you about Joss it would sound like I wanted him gone."

The shop was silent.

"Say that again."

"I'm in love with you."

"That's not an answer to my question."

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