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It was too soon for Clark to have answers regarding Toby and Will’s plagiarized assignment—he’d texted to let me know that his principal was out of the office until Thursday afternoon, so we’d need to be patient—but I still longed to hear his voice. Hell, I even longed to hear Toby’s voice, and that was a first. I was used to him sassing me, even yelling he hated me. But I’d gotten the silent treatment since last night.
My phone remained dark and still, no matter how intensely I watched it though, so I returned my gaze to the skillet where I was grilling chicken for fajitas, giving them a halfhearted push around with my spatula. Making dinner was a lot less enjoyable without Clark here.
On the nights he was with us, Clark helped with food prep, caught me up on his day, and asked about mine. He made my kitchen feel warm and alive. Sometimes, Toby hung out too, listening to us talk, chiming in with silly jokes he’d heard at school or interesting tidbits he’d learned in one of his classes.
Tonight it was just me and the stove and an empty, depressing room.
After Clark left last night, I’d tried to reassure Toby. It had been a bit like talking to a wall. I told him that I trusted Clark to represent his situation fairly enough that even if the principal made the decision, it would be a reasonable one. I’d attempted to explain why I hadn’t told him sooner about my feelings for Clark. He’d lain in his bed like a lump, eyes on the wall, then told me he was tired and asked if he could go to bed early—another first.
This morning, his mood didn’t appear much better. I’d been half-braced to receive a report from school that he’d acted out in class again, but it had been radio silence. No news was good news in my book, so at least there was that.
The phone rang, and I reached for it so quickly I knocked the spatula onto the floor.
“Damn it!” I bent to scoop up the spatula while grabbing the phone to hit Accept Call without seeing the screen. “Clark?”
There was a pause. “No, it’s Holly. Don’t you have Caller ID?”
“Oh, hey. Yeah, sorry. I’m a bit distracted making dinner.”
She chuckled. “Don’t tell me you’re trying to cook?”
“I couldn’t subject Toby to takeout every day.”
“I figured you’d be eating with your parents,” she said. “You were never much good in the kitchen.”
Holly had never given me much chance to be of use there. I could have taken more initiative, of course, but she shooed me away enough times I stopped trying. But now didn’t seem like the time to open that can of worms.
“What’s up, Holls? Kinda busy.”
“Oh! Well, actually, I have some exciting news.”
“Oh yeah?”
“I booked my ticket!”
I propped the phone against the backsplash of the counter and hit the speaker button so I could begin slicing bell peppers for the fajitas. “What ticket?”
“My train ticket, silly! I’m coming to Granville.”
My hand slipped and only Clark’s lesson to keep my fingers curled in saved me from cutting myself. “Say what now?”
She huffed. “Remember, I told you that I was going to visit during spring break?”
“Yeah. I just thought it was more of a maybe than a definite plan.”
Holly had only mentioned it once, and I’d been distracted with Clark waiting for me in the next room. I’d been ninety percent sure she wouldn’t follow through with it after the canceled plans from our past, but maybe she really was getting better.
“Well, you told me to make it a surprise, so I did!”
I gave a weary chuckle and set down the knife. “Yeah, I meant the surprise should be for Toby, not for me. When will you get here? We’ve got a lot going on…”
“Tomorrow afternoon! I need you to come pick me up in Omaha though. You know how I feel about driving and Granville doesn’t have a train station.”
I exhaled. “Holly, I have a job. Toby has an after-school program. I can’t just drop everything—”
“But I’ve already got the ticket!” Holly’s breathing sped up. “This is hard enough for me, Hunter. I thought you’d be proud of how hard I’m trying. Getting on that train will be really difficult. I need you to be there when I arrive. Toby can miss one day of his school program, right? It’s not the end of the world.”
I dropped my head back, a familiar sense of futility sweeping in. I’d forgotten how selfish Holly could get when she was anxious. “Maybe. I’ll text his teacher.”
