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“Me either.” Chance slumped further down in his chair.

“If she matters to you, find a way to fix it,” Buddy said.

“I can’t fix it if I don’t know what happened.”

“Think about it. You’ll figure it out.”

“Mad, are you still kinda seeing her friend?” Chance asked.

“Not really, but I can ask her. I don’t know if she will tell me,” he said.

“Thanks for trying,” Chance said.

“Call her,” Maddox said.

Chance groaned but pulled out his phone and did just that. Everyone sat around the table, waiting to see what happened.

Her voice came through, recorded, telling him to leave a voicemail. He hung up and looked around at his friends.

“Voicemail. After two rings. She ignored me.” Chance dropped his phone on the table.

“She might be busy with Emmett,” Aaron offered.

Chance offered his friend a sad smile. “Thanks for trying.”

“We can stay and hang out if you want,” Maddox offered.

“I’m good. I think I’ll just find something to do around here and wait for her to hopefully call me back.”

“Not healthy,” Maddox told him.

“Then today’s a cheat day.”

Maddox looked like he wanted to say something else but decided against it. They said their goodbyes, and Chance watched his friends leave.

Closing the door behind them, he want back to the table and their pile of plans. It would work, he convinced himself. These kids would all get something out of it and that was the main goal. If this worked out he’d have proven he could act right.

Sam and Derek were already aware that he was seeing a therapist. Both of them had told him they were proud of him for taking the step. This was the last piece to changing his image, getting in with the kids, showing he could be a role model.

He snapped a picture of their plan for the week and sent it over to Tori. Instead of staring at his phone like he wanted to do, Chance tucked it in his pocket and went for a run. The exercise would help clear his brain a little.

With no real clue how far he’d run, Chance returned home nearly an hour later. He’d nearly run past her house a few times while he was out but stopped himself. He didn’t want to seem like a stalker.

His phone still hadn’t gone off, so he jumped in the shower. What he was supposed to do after that, he didn’t know.

In the shower, he heard his phone chime and hurried to finish so he could check it. The message was from Tori, a simple thumbs up acknowledging the plans he’d sent.

Chance hurried to write her back, careful not to bring up anything between them and keep it about the clinic.

Chance: Will these work with the amount of kids?

Tori: Yes.

Chance: Is there anything else I need to do?

Tori: No.

Well, if he hadn’t known she was mad at him before, he was aware now. One word answers spoke volumes with the missing words.