Lust and Lies (The Jamie Reynolds Chronicles #1) by Casandra Charles

your mother after being on your own for so long. Then my phone flashed a new text from Toni. “Ditto,” was all it said.
    That word had me all messed up, and then I looked up and realized I missed my stop.
    “Damn,” I said as I jumped up and waited in front of the subway door so I could get off at the next stop. “Oh well, it’s only a few more blocks to Quiznos, the walking will be good exercise.”
    Ring, ring. My phone started going off. Damn, it was Toni. I guess I couldn’t avoid him anymore, I said to myself as I picked up the phone.
    “Hey you,” I answered the phone, trying to sound excited to talk to Toni.
    “Hey, JR, what’s up?”
    “Oh, nothing, I’m just getting off the train, about to go to Quiznos and get—”
    “Let me guess,” Toni interrupted. “A turkey sandwich, light mayo on the left side of the wheat bread and light mustard, no, excuse me, spicy mustard on the other side.”
    “Cute, very funny.”
    “Oh, I’m not finished. A little bit of lettuce on top or, as you call it, salad.”
    “Hey, I said that one time. I’m going to get off the phone with you when I order my food from now on. Besides, I really don’t eat out a lot, as I try to eat home-cooked food and not all of this junk stuff.”
    “Oh, baby, I’m just playing with you. It’s cute you say Quiznos is junk food. How was your day today? I hope it was good.”
    “It was good, I got a lot accomplished.”
    “Thanks to me.”
    “Thanks to you? What?”
    “Yeah, you got a lot accomplished because you wasn’t calling or texting me back,” Toni said, sounding defeated.
    “Babe, that’s not true. I was on and off the train today and I was running around Manhattan, getting lost.”
    “Man, you are a bad liar,” Toni said, shutting me up.
    “I hate when you do that.”
    “Do what?”
    “When you say I’m lying… I really did get lost in Manhattan. I was so focused on finding my way around I wasn’t paying attention to my phone,” I said, sounding defensive, but he was right.
    “Baby, you always get lost… you know you wasn’t lost, you was just taking a detour.”
    “I like that word; I was just taking a detour.”
    Before I knew it, it was 1:20 a.m.
    “Toni, it’s getting late.”
    “I know, honey, but I just like talking to you and hearing your voice.”
    “Ditto.”
    There was a short pause between Toni and me.
    I was a little nervous; maybe I shouldn’t have said ditto. After all, in the movie Ghost it was the way Demi Moore and Bruce Willis said they loved each other.
    Finally Toni spoke and broke the silence. “That’s a good movie.”
    “Yeah, it is. I loved the loft they lived in, in the movie.”
    “Damn, I thought the same thing when I was watching it today.”
    “I tell you, great minds think alike.”
    “I knew we were meant to be together… do you want to know what I told Jonathan this morning?”
    “Yeah, what did you tell him?” I asked, trying to sound interested in hearing it again.
    “I told him that you were very special and I think I’ve found my soul mate.”
    It didn’t sound so sweet and sincere when Jonathan said it.
    “JR, I can’t stop thinking about you. I dream about you, I dream about us. It’s crazy, I know, because it’s only been a few weeks, but I know myself and I have never felt like this before.”
    “Toni, I want to say I feel the same way, but the way I feel about you, the way I feel about us, is so crazy. I think about you all the time as well. I miss you when I get off the phone. I think crazy thoughts on a daily basis. I often wonder if moving to New York was the right move. I wonder what would have happened between us if I had stayed. Would I feel the same way?” I said, just laying everything on the table over the phone.
    “I feel the same way, babe. Let me ask you this question, do you believe in true love?”
    Like déjà vu because Jonathan just asked me that same question this morning.
    “You know, before I met you, I would have said