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“Anyway…” There was a long pause before her voice resumed again, lower in pitch and more controlled than the breathiness of before. “I wanted to wish you a happy birthday. I guess it’s getting late there, but I hope you enjoyed the day. I don’t, I don’t know—”
The message clicked off. Dan groaned, then pressed the next message. What didn’t she know?
“Um, hi again, it’s still Sarah. Gee, your voice mail doesn’t give much time to leave a message, does it?”
Why didn’t she get to the point? This was agony.
“Anyway, I…I don’t know if Angela gave you the CD I made, but if she did, then I hope you know…that I still mean everything I said on it.”
Dan’s heart began a crazy pitter-patter.
“I…I love you. I’m so, so sorry for how I treated you before I left.”
Her voice dropped to a whisper, and Dan leaned closer to hear.
“Please forgive me. I understand if you don’t want anything to do with me, but in case you still want to be my friend, I’ll be sitting by the phone today, thinking of you and praying for you. I…I miss you heaps.”
The message stopped abruptly. He scrolled to see if there was more, but no, that was it. He quickly replayed it, listening again to the sound of her magical voice, his brain tumbling over the information, trying to make sense of it all as hope battled doubt.
Dan pushed his head into his hands, staring at the phone like it was Aladdin’s lamp and Sarah could suddenly materialize from it. He glanced at the clock and winced at how late it was already. He had training tomorrow, but if this phone call went the way he prayed for it to go, the lack of sleep would most definitely be worth it. He pressed recall and the +61 international code flashed up followed by a long series of numbers, then he heard the double dial tones.
* * *
Sarah laywith her head on her arms, the prayer never far from her lips. Ever since laying her heart on the line several hours ago, she’d been whispering Bible verses and praying in a futile attempt to not allow the worry to crowd in. Surely he would have got the message by now. She’d calculated the time differences. It was late there. He must not want to speak to her. Jagged pain speared her heart, and she closed her eyes.Oh God, it must be too late.
Her phone’s jangling ringtone woke her. “Hello?”
“Sarah?”
She swallowed.Please, God.“Dan?”
“Yeah.”
Her heart danced a jig.Thank You!“How are you?”
“Okay.”
No, he wasn’t. He sounded cold, stiff. Didn’t he want to speak to her? Not that she’d blame him if he stayed cool toward her forever. But then why had he called? “Did you have a good birthday?”
“It was okay.” He sounded so distant. And not just because of the number of miles that stretched between them.
“I…I guess you got my message. I miss you.”
He sighed and Sarah filled with sudden fear. She’d done so many dumb things and apologized so many times. What if he didn’t want her friendship anymore?
“And I miss you.”
“Really?”
“Of course. But Sarah, I need to know. Why’d you call it quits?”
Her eyes filled. “Dan, you’re the nicest man I’ve ever met.” She didn’t qualify it; it was true. His mix of joy and playfulness balanced beautifully with a caring, serious side. He’d proved himself patient, honest, and kind over and over again. Stephen paled in comparison. “I love you, and I really, really appreciate all that you’ve done.”
“But?”
Her chest tightened. Truth time. “But when you asked me about whether I wanted to be a mother one day, well”—she swallowed—“the doctors aren’t sure how much internal damage was done in the car accident, so I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to have kids.” She sighed. “I felt so envious of Marguerite.” The shame was so deep. “And you were so excited, and obviously do want kids, and so, at the risk of sounding presumptuous, there’s not much point being together if we want different things.”
There was a long silence before he finally spoke. “Don’t you want kids?”
