Page 113 of No Headlines Please

When Tessa went quiet, it confirmed everything I feared.

Obviously, she'd been there a lot longer than a day. Had she been with Maisie the whole time?

Dodging my question, she said, "I'm glad you called. I've been really worried."

I snorted. "Yeah, I can tell. I've only called you a million times in the past two weeks."

She hesitated. "Wait…you have?"

As if she didn't know. "Yes, actually." Under my breath, I mumbled, "And thanks for calling me back."

With a little groan, she said, "Oh, my God. My phone."

"What about it?"

"I don't have it. I haven't for a while."

It sounded like quite a story. Tessa was glued to her phone. She was always working, always posting something or other, and always had her finger on the pulse of everything.

Every face, every name, every piece of gossip that mattered – Tessa knew it before anyone else. This made her story ridiculous. She'd probably die without her phone.

And yet, if I were being fair – not that I felt like it, mind you – her social media page had been oddly inactive. Even so, I had to work hard to keep my voice level as I asked, "What are you saying? You lost it?"

"Not exactly."

Talk about shifty. "Not exactly? What does that mean?"

"It's in storage – another long story. But how are you?"

Storage?

Who puts a cellphone in storage?

And why was she changing the subject?

My grip on my own phone tightened. "Five minutes ago, I was fine." This wasn't quite true, but I still tried to laugh. "And do you seriously expect me to believe that you've been away from your phone for two whole weeks?"

"More like two whole months."

Months? As in multiple? Once again, I tried to be fair. I had been trying to reach her for a couple of months now, but it wasn't until the past two weeks that I'd started getting obnoxious about it.

Still, I couldn't quite hide my hurt as I asked, "Wait…you've been at Maisie's for months?"

Tessa sighed. "You did hear me say I came looking for you, right?"

That wasn't exactly a no. "And then what? You just moved in?"

Between Sierra's comments, the funeral I'd missed, and the fact that Tessa was apparently answering Maisie's phone, the evidence was piling up.

When she didn't reply, I just laid it out there. "So Maisie is what now? Your best friend?"

Sounding annoyed, she asked, "A best friend you haven't spoken to in months?" But then, more softly, she added, "She really misses you."

The words hit hard, and I wanted to believe her. But all I could think about was everything I'd missed, filtered through Sierra's snide commentary. "Well, it's a good thing she's got you then, huh?"

Part of me actually meant it. I loved my sister. And I loved Maisie. Sure, Tessa and I hadn't always gotten along, but she was good in a crisis.

She was good at everything. If Maisie had to have somebody helping her cope, Tessa would do a stellar job.