Chapter 13
The Art of the Present Moment
Ashley wakes after the tense dinner and goes to Maya's café, where she's joined by Michelle Bella. Rowan arrives and tells the full truth about his debt to a man named Cass Vantage, his failed restaurant inventory project, and the origins of the Present Tense app. Despite the weight of the confession, Ashley chooses to stay present, and a warm, charged moment between them marks a deeper turn in their relationship.
The morning arrived uninvited, as mornings tend to when you've been up half the night arguing with yourself and losing both sides of the debate. Ashley stared at the ceiling. The ceiling stared back, which was at least more honest than most of the conversations she'd had recently.
Her phone was on the nightstand. She had not looked at it since walking in the door, because every time she thought about looking at it, her stomach did something complicated. She eventually turned it over. A text from Rowan, sent at 11:47 PM. Three sentences. She read them twice, and on the second pass she noticed that they had nothing to do with seabirds:
I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I'll tell you everything today.
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