Cross My Heart (A Contemporary Romance Novel)

than ever, because every time she went on stage she remembered that he’d called her incandescent, and she was determined to live up to that.
    But she missed him all the time.
    The worst was at night, alone in her hotel room. She missed him so much then it was like the phantom ache amputees talk about—an ache in the missing limb.
    A part of her was gone, and on some level she couldn’t accept it.
    She and Claire emailed back and forth all the time, but somehow she couldn’t bring herself to email Michael.
    She’d finally figured out why. If they started using email as a means of communication, she wouldn’t have a reason to call him.
    Which meant she’d never have a chance to hear his voice.
    She turned her head to look at the clock. She’d gone to bed relatively early tonight and it was only eleven. Michael often stayed up that late, reading or working on the computer.
    She sat up in bed and grabbed her cell phone from the nightstand. She wouldn’t call, but she could text him. Instead of a persistent ring that would wake him up if he’d gone to bed early, a text would send just a single beep.
    Are you awake?
    She lay back down, curling up on her side with the phone in her hand.
    It rang in less than a minute.
    “Yeah, I’m awake. How about you?”
    He sounded amused, and the rich, deep timbre of his voice sent a familiar thrill coursing through her. “I’m awake, obviously. Did you think I was texting in my sleep?”
    “Well, I know your schedule’s been pretty hectic. Are you on the bus, or in a hotel room?”
    “Hotel room. We’re here another couple of nights, while we figure out our next steps. We...we don’t have any obligations for the next couple of weeks, although Mitch wants us in New York by November.” Mitch was Derek’s old manager. They hadn’t signed with him yet, but they were talking about it.
    There was a silence, and she wondered if he’d suggest she come for a visit.
    “Yeah, I think Claire mentioned you were heading east. She showed me your interview in Rolling Stone , by the way. Even I know that’s a big deal.”
    She took a deep breath and tried not to feel disappointed. “Yeah, we were all pretty excited. But I don’t want to talk about any of that. I want to hear about you and Claire.”
    She heard him chuckle. “Don’t tell me Claire doesn’t keep you fully informed. She emails you all the time.”
    “Sure, but I want to hear it from you. How is she doing in school, now that she’s had a couple of months to settle in?”
    “She’s doing great. She won a writing contest last week, did she tell you?”
    “No! She didn’t tell me. I got a three page email detailing her fear that no one will ask her to the winter formal, and not one word about this. Tell me all about it.”
    They talked for an hour, about anything and everything. Jenna felt the tension easing from her muscles as they spoke, until the unbearable ache was almost gone.
    But when they finally hung up, it came flooding back.
    The tears came, too.
    It was weak and ridiculous to cry like this, over a man who’d given her exactly what she wanted.
    Her freedom.
    There was a soft knock on the door. “Jenna? Are you awake?”
    Apparently she wasn’t the only one who couldn’t sleep. She grabbed a handful of tissues from the box beside the bed and swiped at her eyes. “Sure, Molly, come on in.”
    She could see immediately that her friend had been crying, too.
    “Molly! What is it? What’s wrong?”
    The redhead sat on the bed beside her and took a deep breath.
    “I’m pregnant.”
    For a second Jenna just stared at her. Then she threw her arms around Molly and hugged her tight. “Oh, wow. Does James know?”
    James was her boyfriend of more than a year. He was a grad student at the Art Institute of Chicago, and head over heels in love with her
    Molly nodded. “Yes, he knows. He’s ecstatic.”
    Jenna sat back so she could study her friend more closely. “And what about you? Are you ecstatic?”
    Molly ducked her head. “I am,” she whispered. “I want this more than anything.”
    Jenna frowned. “If this is your ecstatic face, I’d hate to see you looking dismal. What’s going on?”
    “How can you ask me that? With the band taking off like it has...everyone so excited...all the plans we’ve been making...oh, Jenna. I don’t want to give up on the Mollies now, after all we’ve gone through to be together again.”
    Jenna gave her another hug. “Okay, then, we won’t give up on