Sing For Me by Trisha Grace Page B

suppressed the urge to sigh aloud.
    “Can I talk to you for a minute?”
    She couldn’t say no now. She smiled politely at Ella and stood. “I’ll be right back.”
    She led the way out of the restaurant and stood right outside. No one inside the restaurant would be able to see them anyway. The top half of the glass panels was blocked off by dark blue cloths with white Japanese wordings while the bottom half of the panels was frosted.
    “Chloe, I’m sorry, but it wasn’t what you think.”
    She wanted to laugh. She looked at the time on her phone, then back at him. “You had nearly three hours, and this is the best you came up with?”
    Jason licked his lips. “Chloe, I’ll do anything. Please forgive me.”
    “Forget it, Ja—”
    “I’ll become Catholic for you.”
    She frowned. “I’m not Catholic.”
    “What? Isn’t that why you love staying in Rome? Because it’s near the Vatican City?”
    “What?” Again she wanted to laugh.
    She had always thought that what she and Jason had was mature and sensible, that they could maintain their relationship despite rarely seeing each other because they knew each other well. Who was she kidding?
    “I’ve only stepped foot in Vatican City once.” She was a tourist then, and visiting the Vatican City was the touristy thing to do.
    “But your mom is Catholic, right?”
    “No!” Her fingers splayed over her lips as she tried to conceal her laughter. “No one in my family is Catholic.”
    “You’re not Catholic?”
    She pursed her lips and nodded. “I’m sure I’d know if I was.”
    “But you’re so … so …”
    “So what?”
    “Proper.”
    The sense of amusement disappeared. “And you make that sound like a bad thing.” She shook her head. “Look, Jason, we obviously don’t know each other well. Since walking away from you, I haven’t felt an ounce of sadness.”
    “Chlo—”
    “And for you to sleep with someone else, I don’t think you care very much for me either. So why are you even here? Because Lawrence told you to fix things?”
    He sighed heavily and ran his hand through his hair. “Just marry me, Chloe. You can continue to stay in Rome, and I’ll continue to stay here. We’ll continue as we did before.”
    “And why will I do that?” She took a step back. “Because I’m so proper that no one will want me?”
    “Chloe, listen—”
    “Jason, I’m sorry.” She turned and walked back into the restaurant.
    “Is everything all right?” Ella asked the moment she got back to the table.
    “Yeah.” She broke into a smile when she saw the concern on Ella’s face. “I’m fine, really.”

Chapter Seven

    Chloe was exhausted when she got back to the house. She wanted to give Christopher a call and return the car to his mom, but she was so tired.
    Instead, she sent Christopher a text to let him know she was back.
    She peeled the jacket off her and stumbled into the bathroom to take a quick shower before crumpling onto her bed.
    She wasn’t sure how long she slept, but she awoke to her phone vibrating away in her bag.
    She pulled her pillow over her ears. She should get used to sleeping with ear plugs.
    Sighing softly, she turned and tried to get back to sleep, but her phone wouldn’t let her.
    “Ugh!” She shot upright and glared at her bag, willing the phone within it to self-destruct, but it didn’t.
    She was about to crawl out of bed when it finally stopped vibrating.
    Closing her eyes, she slumped back against the bed.
    Then came another buzz, a short, single buzz.
    She gave up.
    She got out of bed and checked her phone.
    Two missed calls, one text message, all from Jason.
    At least she had slept through the night, and now she was starving. She still had the car; she could drive out and buy something to eat. She changed and trudged down the stairs.
    The car key she’d left on the coffee table was no longer there. Instead, a note replaced it.
    My mom needed the car. There’s food in the oven.
    Instructions followed,