AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Tess. Thank fuck. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” Her voice sounded breathy and tight. “How’s Maddy? Is she all right?” There was traffic noise behind her, like she was out in public somewhere or in a car with the window rolled down.
“Maddy’s fine. A little shaken up, is all. I’m so fucking sorry I didn’t make it today. I’ve been trying to get a hold of you for hours.”
I heard her take a long breath before she said, “I just saw all your messages and texts.”
“Just now?” Jesus Christ on a cross, had she really spent all this time thinking I was a festering asshole who’d let her down for no good reason? She had, hadn’t she? “So I take it you’ve been cursing my name for the last five hours?”
She didn’t say anything, which was pretty much all the answer I needed.
“Where’ve you been?” I asked, dragging my hand through my hair. “I’ve been going out of my mind.”
“I was with my dad.”
“You didn’t take him to the game?” I hoped like hell she hadn’t tried to do it all by herself. If so and something had gone wrong, I’d never be able to forgive myself.
“No. I spent the afternoon with him at the home. We sat in the courtyard and listened to the game on the radio. But I didn’t have any cell service there, so I didn’t see any of your messages.”
I ground the heel of my hand against my forehead, feeling like complete shit. “You have no idea how sorry I am. I just—fuck, I need to see you. Please. Tell me where you are and I’ll come to you.”
“I’m a block from your building.”
“You are?” I grabbed my keys and ran out of my apartment, not bothering to lock it behind me.
“I didn’t check my phone until I got home a few minutes ago. As soon as I heard your first voicemail, I started walking toward your place. Please tell me you’re there.”
“I’m on my way down,” I said, jabbing the elevator button impatiently. “I’m coming to meet you.”
“You don’t have to come down. I’m almost there. I can see your building.”
“Too late, I’m already on the elevator.”AnnnndI was barefoot, I realized as I stepped onto the cold metal floor. I’d forgotten I wasn’t wearing shoes when I ran out of my apartment. Fuck it. Too late to fix it now. “I’ll meet you in the lobby.”
“Donal, I—”
The call cut off as the elevator doors closed.
Shit! Fuck! Goddammit!Fuck these fucking cell phones. Weren’t they supposed to make it easier to reach people? It was all I could do not to throw the cursed thing across the elevator.
I crossed my arms, watching the numbers decrease as the elevator plunged toward the lobby. Why did I have to live up so high? And why was this elevator so goddamned slow? Could we hurry it up a little, maybe?
And now it was stopping.Perfect.
Two women in their thirties got on. Dressed up for a night on the town by the look of them. High heels, tight dresses, lots of makeup. And here was me, barefoot and probably wild-eyed, with my daughter’s teary makeup smears staining my untucked dress shirt.
They eyed me warily, giving my disheveled appearance raised eyebrows.
“Hey, how you doing?” I offered them a nod as I hammered on the door close button like I was playing Rock ’Em Sock ’Em Robots.
“It doesn’t actually make it work any faster to push it a bunch of times like that,” one of them said helpfully.
“Can’t hurt to try though, right?” I countered with a strained smile.
They didn’t try to talk to me for the rest of the ride down, and thankfully no one else got on. As soon as we hit the lobby, I rocketed off the elevator before the doors had even finished opening. My mom would just have to find a way to forgive me for not letting the ladies off first. I had urgent business to attend to.
I ran into the middle of the lobby and stopped, searching for Tess. It didn’t look like she was here yet. My gaze jumped to the windows facing the street, and my heart about leaped out of my chest when I saw her walk past on her way to the door.
She nodded a greeting at the doorman as he admitted her. She was dressed for the ballpark, in jeans and a T-shirt with her hair in a sagging ponytail. There were tired shadows under her eyes and tense lines around her mouth. I couldn’t tell if her face looked pink from being in the sun or from crying.
