“I thought he was in treatment today.” Archie stands and begins to pace across the room.
“He does best on those days. The chemo starts to affect him after the first forty-eight hours, sometimes within the first thirty-six.”
“Archie,” I whisper, and he looks at me. “Tread carefully,” I warn, and he nods.
“Righto. Looking at my calendar, looks like Piper and I can schedule an hour from four to five,” Archie says briskly, with no calendar in sight. “That work for you, too, Frank?”
“Yeah.” I’m grateful he thought to give a specific time, to give us an out if we need it.
“That sounds reasonable,” Sybil answers. “I’ll add you to Mr. Forsythe’s itinerary.”
With a click, the call is over, but Archie and I don’t move, until he says, “I wonder if Mum knows.”
“I’ll ring her in a bit.”
With a sigh, he tucks his mobile in his pocket. “It’ll take us at least half an hour to drive to Beverly Hills that time of day. I’ll be back at three-thirty.”
“With Piper?” I ask.
He lifts his palms. “That’s up to her.”
With that, he leaves me to process this news by myself while he sorts it out with Piper.
I haven’t felt this lonely since the day I left Brandon and LA. Just like that day, a thousand questions circle in my head, stirring up a storm of doubt about what I’ve done and what I should do.
Then my mobile buzzes and a text from Cal appears, like I’ve magically called it forth right when I needed to talk to someone. I didn’t expect to hear from him again, not after I barely answered his texts the first timearound, then told him no to talking to Junie. Why wouldn’t he cut me out of his life for good?
I’m almost afraid to read the entire message, but it begins withI’m sorry, so I take a chance and open my texts.
I shouldn’t have asked you to call Junie. It wasn’t fair. I’m the one who pushed you to commit or leave.
I almost laugh with relief as I read it. A shallow, needle-edged relief.
It was a fair ask, Cal.
I send the message, then can’t stop my fingers typing what I really want to know.
She alright?
He replies with,
She’ll be fine
Which isn’t a yes.
I want to say yes to facetiming, but I want to protect her too. I’m afraid of hurting her.
I know.
He sends, but bubbles appear, so I wait for the rest of his message.
I thought it’d be better this way, but she keeps asking if you don’t like her anymore.
My heart feels like it’s being plucked from my chest, as I wait for his next text to appear.
I didn’t anticipate that.
I keep telling her you do, but she keeps asking. I’m not trying to make this your problem, I’m just trying to figure out what to do.
