When she looks back up, her expression softens. “How are you doing? You look tired.”
I huff out a breath. “Training’ll do that.”
She doesn’t smile this time.
“And leaving the love of your life behind will too.”
“Probably.”
“Zach.”
I glance away from the screen, rubbing the back of my neck. “I’m good,” I say automatically.
“That’s not what I asked.”
“I’m good, really,” I answer honestly. “I feel a little beat up and broken, but I made the right call to leave the cruise when I did. My new Coach would've probably burned me at the stake if I stayed away any longer.”
“And Honey?” she asks tentatively.
“Would've been happy to see the back of me,” I joke. “She needs the space, and that's what I'm going to give her.”
“Good.” She doesn't argue with me. Instead, she watches my expression for a beat. “As long as you're happy. That's genuinely all I want.”
Am I happy?
How could I not be with everything I've got?
“She's going to figure it out,” Tiff adds before I can go into my own spiral, over-thinking every little thing I could've done differently as though it's a play I'm watching back and learning from.
“Yeah,” I say. “I know.”
That's the saddest part for me. I actually do get it, and I really do think she'll figure it out. It's just waiting for that requires a lot of patience.
“What do you think of this one, Uncle Zach?” Ella asks, pushing herself in front of the camera and showing me a pink sun hat with a sunflower poking out of the top.
“It looks fantastic, Ellie-Bear.”
She spends the next four minutes showing me all these different hats and describing the one she's going to get in Hawaii. I listen to every word of it, amused at all the requirements. Tiff is going to spend a long time looking for this hat.
When Tiff manages to wrestle the phone back to say goodbye, I frown.
A notification has popped up.
New text: Honeycomb??
“Oh, shit. I've gotta go, Tiff. Honey's just texted.” I sit up immediately. I’ve been fucking waiting for this.
“You've got to put a dollar in the swear jar, Uncle Zach,” Ella calls from the background.
“Sorry, sweetie. I love you both.”
I hang up and open the message immediately.
Honeycomb??:I jumped off a cliff today.
I stare at it. My brow furrows and I tilt my head as I read it again.
Then I bark out a laugh, because I have no idea what she's talking about.
