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I pulled up Blake’s text thread in my phone more than once, tempted to write to him I missed him, but after days of silence,to be easy Onehis brains out and the nextout on hi how to react to the boiven hiroaned, frustrated in h I had no idea what that really felt like

I loved Marie I loved Alli In , I lovedYet I didn't kno to love so a comfortable distance had always been easy, ideal, really When they wanted to move on, I otiating a more serious co

None of theaway the emotional barriers I’d so carefully built around myself over the years I couldn’t keep up the façadean iether, but he broke that doith a few strokes of his fingers and his persistence His goddain with

I typed a shortit the moment I sent it

I miss you

Every moment that went by, I wondered if he’d received it With no word from Blake, I cursed myself for the next several hours as I finished up work and dressed for the gallery opening I had an i with a crowd of snobs in turtlenecks, quietly assessing a collection of art that Iat all I scoldedsome of her newer additions Eventually I decided on a pair of tight black crop pants and a bold fuchsia and black lace tunic and pulled ht bun Unfortunately when I arrived, thethe starkness of the artist’s photography

I spotted Alli chatting with another woh the crowd, drawing attention as I went Whatever, I thought, pushing away my self-consciousness If I was here to network, the last thing I wanted to be was forgettable

I joined the to-legged friend She looked oddly familiar Maybe she was adark brown hair

"Erica, this is Sophia Devereaux She’s friends with Blake--well, Heath too actually"

Blake’s nahten So this was Sophia

Alli went on to explain the site and our role in it, savingmy own horn Sophia looked mildly interested, but Alli didn’t stop there

"Sophia actually runs her own ency here in New York" Her eyebrow arched toward me "She works with a ton of brands for their shoots," she continued, spoon feedingit, though I had a difficult tiht mean to Blake out of my mind There was only one way to find out People invariably loved talking about themselves, and over the space of a few minutes, I learned just hoell Sophia was connected She had worked with every ner I knew, dozens I didn’t, and casually spoke of thee to ency versus working for one She was the picture of physical perfection, as least when it cah fashion and the type of look it demanded