The Right Timing

Chapter 18

     Pushing the door closed, Amelia kicks off her shoes and falls belly-first onto her bed, her sore feet dangling off the edge.

     Maybe I should buy new work shoes

     She ponders with her face smushed into the covers. The darkening of the sky matched with the pattering of rain led to her eyes fluttering closed before the buzzing of her phone flooded the room.

     With a long groan, Amelia pushes herself up from her bed to retrieve the irritating device from her purse.

     Shoveling through the clutter, she finds the small paper William gave to her earlier.

     Oh right, I almost forgot

     Ignoring the meaningless app notification, she dials the number from the paper into her cell and hears the ringing. Many rings go by before the call gets sent to voicemail.

     No answer

     She could be busy

     With a shrug, she leans to connect her phone to her charger when a text comes through.

          Who is this?

          Amelia Abbott, Hade's assistant. Can we talk please?

      The conversation ends there until her phone starts vibrating. Seeing the same number on the screen, Amelia picks up.

    "Hello?"

     "Hey sorry, I don't answer calls if I don't know who they're from," Jayla explains.

     "Yeah, I get it. You're good."

     "So what did you want to talk about? William mentioned giving you my number but that's about it."

     "Yeah, well, I just wanted to call you to say sorry for how I reacted at the party. I know you didn't mean anything bad with what you said and I for sure overreacted so-"

     "Amelia, no worries. It wasn't a big deal."

     "Maybe not, but it still wasn't very nice. I feel like I was kinda bitchy there, so I'm sorry about that."

     "All is forgiven. And yeah, I definitely didn't mean anything even remotely bad with what I said about you and Hade. Hade is a genuine and good guy who cares a lot about the people in his life. You being one of them."

     "Oh trust me, I got an earful from your husband all about that." Amelia plops down on her bed again.

     "Don't tell me he went on a long rant."

     "It wasn't very long," she could hear Jayla scoff on the other end.

     "He can get ahead of himself sometimes, don't mind him."

     "It wasn't anything bad, I think I may have needed to hear it."

     "Alright, I'll save you from my long speech then. It's just something to think about."

     "Yeah. I guess."

***

     It was a miracle. Amelia, Shelby, Janai, Peter, Maria, and Denise could all join together for lunch. The party of six had leaped for joy at finding each other in the lobby, away from their bosses and pressured deadlines.

     "It wasn't much," Peter says.

     "Same, I feel like my weekends are just filled with TV lately. It's getting boring," Shelby adds before Denise chimes in.