Free The Love Square by Jessica Calla Page B

great night.
    She threw her bags on the floor and sank into her couch. Alex’s chicken-scratch handwriting stared back at her from her coffee table. For a second, she resolved to ignore his note but then caved and picked it up.
     
    Jen—I know how busy you are with nationals and work and everything. I was bored out of my skull and I knew you wouldn’t have time, so I watched your DVR’d shows (well, most of them—I gave up halfway through the Housewives) and wrote a synopsis so you would be caught up. It’s that stack of paper on the TV stand.
     
    Jenna looked up and saw the stack of about ten pages or so. She kept reading.
     
    I wish I could do more for you. I thought about cooking you something, but (a) that would be a disaster, and (b) I wasn’t sure if you were coming home tonight. Also (c), I’m way too lazy. Ha. I miss you and love you. Alex.
     
    Jenna folded the note and stood to grab Alex’s papers off the television stand. She couldn’t help but smile as she scanned the pages, filled with his horrendous handwriting with some words underlined, in all caps, or bolded. He had watched five episodes of her favorite soap, Love and Stuff , and she giggled at his declaration:
     
    THIS SHOW ROCKS.
     
    Farther down, he’d written:
     
    You are NEVER watching this without me again!!!
     
    He’d even suffered through two episodes of the Housewives.
     
    Really, Jenna? REALLY? My God, woman, you have NOTHING better to spend your time on?
     
    She smiled, sat down, and started at the beginning, reading every summary he’d written, laughing and shaking her head at his crazy comments.
    Just like that, Jenna let go of her hope of a potential love affair with Alex and reembraced their friendship. We can do this. She could do this. This is what she wanted. She wanted her Alex—the crazy man who would watch her DVR when he knew she was too busy to do it herself. She didn’t want that to change.
    She picked up her phone and called him. He answered on the first ring.
    “Hey, you,” she said.
    “Hi! Are you at Scott’s?”
    “No, home. I wanted to apologize for being a little distant today.”
    “Don’t apologize. You never have to apologize to me,” he said.
    “Where are you?”
    “I just left the ballpark.”
    “Did you win?”
    “No. I hit, though, so that’s good.”
    “Awesome. I wanted to say good night.”
    “Night, Stecs.”
    “Run tomorrow?”
    “Yep.”
    “Love you,” Jenna told him.
    “Love you too.”
    “Alex?”
    “Um-hm?”
    “Thanks for watching my shows. Even the sucky ones. Your notes made me smile.”
    “I’m glad. And I was serious about Love and Stuff . Why didn’t you tell me how great it is? I have about a hundred questions.”
    Jenna laughed. “I’ll catch you up.”
    “You know Dylan, my friend from high school?”
    “Yep. Dylan, Steve, and Alex. The three amigos.” Alex talked about them constantly.
    “He was on Sunrise, Sunset for six months. They killed him off.”
    “He was? You never told me.” She’d have to cyberstalk this Dylan guy.
    “I forget he’s an actor sometimes. Is Sunrise, Sunset any good?”
    “No. That’s our rival show,” Jenna said. “Maybe we should start running a half hour earlier and sneak in Love and Stuff in the morning with coffee.”
    “Excellent plan, but not tomorrow. I’m beat. Regular time?”
    “Deal. See you then,” Jenna said.
    She disconnected and hugged his notes to her chest, feeling lucky to have him in whatever capacity worked. Friendship definitely worked. Jenna vowed to accept that as she dragged herself into the shower and washed off the day, then crawled into bed. She fell asleep the moment her head hit the pillow.

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter 6
     
     
    Alex
     
    Alex hung up with Jenna and wanted nothing more than to creep into her apartment and sleep next to her. He wanted to hear her breathe, to be around her, to know everything was all right. He had been a mess all day worrying. Their run in