CHLOE BAKER'S LOST DATE

Chapter Nineteen: I'll Have The Eight Ounce Glass

I check the date. It's two days after the ice cream incident. I smile, thinking about Tyler and his exclamation marks. He's a cute kid, and his mom seems nice. Besides, I have to contact her, Tabitha said. There's a phone number under her name. I call it.

"This is Kaitlin."

"Hi, this is Chloe Baker. From BookBox. Calling about Ben?" My voice is rising with each half-sentence. I sound like an idiot.

"Oh, Chloe. Hi!" her voice is warm, a nice alto phone voice.

"I'm calling to let you know that you've won our grand prize. A year's subscription to the BookBox and a signed copy of Most Wanted."

"Thank you. Wow, Chloe. We're talking in real life."

I lean back slowly in my chair and try not to scream out in pain. "That's a surprise?"

"I've been hearing about you on both ends for a while."

"Both ends?"

"Tyler and Ben."

"Oh. Tyler is adorable."

"He's a handful, but thank you for being so kind to him."

"My pleasure."

"Ben told me, well ... about the whole fake date thing."

I close my eyes. Even that hurts a little, but that might not be the spin class. "Yeah."

"He meant well."

"He said."

I tuck my phone under my chin and switch my position so I can Google Kaitlin. I like having a visual when I speak to someone. She looks a lot like Ben, with shoulder-length brown hair and the same easy smile. Her wife is cute too, red-headed. and sporty.

"I'm sorry it didn't work out."

"It happens. I'm sorry about your mom."

"Thank you." Kaitlin sighs. "It's been hard. We don't know how long she's going to have."

"Is she still in the hospital? I ran into Ben and Rachel a couple of weeks ago, bringing her bagels."

"I heard."

"You did?"

"From Ben and Rachel that time. That was an epic fight."

My toes curl in my shoes. I need to stop moving. "I didn't mean to cause tension between them."

"It's not your fault. And they're not together in case you were wondering. Not that Rachel acts like it." There's a bitterness to her tone that surprises me. From everything I've seen of Rachel, despite her dislike of me, which is understandable, she's well-liked.

"Oh?"

"Probably shouldn't say anything. I'm always saying too much and getting in trouble."

"Yes, of course. And ha, me too."

"I just ... That breakup was a long time coming, and I know it was a hard decision for Ben, but it was the right one, you know? And then our mom got really sick and he felt like he couldn't tell her about the breakup because mom loves Rachel and ... I told him he should just tell her. It's not like our mom is some delicate flower. But Ben's protective."

"That's a good quality."

"Yes, usually. But not at the expense of his happiness."

As much as part of me wants to know all of this, another part of me is screaming to make it stop. "I'm not sure Ben would want you telling me any of this."