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“W-w-why?”
“Several reasons.” She doesn’t elaborate further. “So let’s wrap this up and have a birthday celebration.”
I follow her out and send a quick text to Bryce.
Can’t wait to tell you about my day. Love you!
*****
The phone rings, and I scramble over the bed to reach it. The time reads three-thirty am, which is five-thirty Bryce’s time. We discovered last week that this is the best time to catch each other if we want to talk at all. Otherwise, it’s a series of missed calls, messages, or texts.
“Hello,” I whisper.
“Hey, babe. How was your birthday?”
“Did you see the video I sent?”
“Oh, yeah.” His voice goes tight.
“Is something wrong?”
“Who was that guy?”
“Eli?”
“Is that his name?” Bitterness is evident in his tone.
“Are you jealous of Eli?”
“Considering he was holding your hand, yes. You couldn’t have missed the way he was looking at you.”
“He’s a diver from the UK. I told you about meeting him.”
“I thought you were meeting a woman diver. How’d you get paired up with him?”
I roll over, curling into a ball. Even though Quinn has been cool about the early morning calls, I try to be as quiet as possible.
“Bryce, he’s harmless.”
He grumbles a few seconds and then sighs. “Can’t help it. Was there a need for him to hold your hand? Touch you at all?”
“I jumped over thirty feet into a pool. Yes, there was a need.”
He’s silent a few more seconds, and then his tone changes. “Proud of you, Devon. Though, I will tell you, Nate and I both agreed your squeal was a bit dramatic.”
“Did you hear me say I jumped over thirty feet? That calls for dramatic!”
He starts laughing, and my heart swells. It’s been weeks since he left for Rhode Island. I miss him tremendously. As promised, I’ve sent him several videos and tried to keep him updated daily.
“By the way, I love my birthday present.” I thumb the two charms he added to my charm bracelet. One is the Olympic rings and the other an anchor. “I almost cried when Quinn handed me the box this morning.”
“Thought they were appropriate. Tell me about the rest of your day.”
I start from the time we arrived at the training pool facility and continue all the way until Shana took us out to dinner to celebrate. She even invited Quinn.
“Sounds like a cool woman. And she’s brilliant to pick you for her team.”
“Ha ha. I wish she could have picked me and Quinn.”
