Page 140 of You Are Not Me

“Um—”

“I heard him flush!” she crowed.

I bit my lip, a smile cracking through the heaviness.

“Now he’s washing his hands. Okay, here he comes, mister. Dan, the phone’s for you.”

“Hello?” He sounded a little distracted, but just hearing his voice was like a balm to my wounds.

“Hey,” I said, breathlessly. “It’s me. Peter.”

“Oh. Hey.” My heart lifted. He sounded relieved to hear from me. “I’ve been meaning to call you.”

“You have?”

“Yeah. I just wanted you to know it’s going to be okay.”

I laughed, a crazy feeling welling up in me. I wanted to crawl through the wire and wrap my arms around his neck to smell him. “Are you sure? I need you to be sure.”

“Peter?” He was quiet now, concerned. “Are you all right?”

I wiped my hand over my mouth, laughter gone. “I don’t know. I mean, I think I might not be okay, actually. But maybe I am. Either way, I’m glad you have faith in me.”

“Are we talking about the same thing?” he asked.

“I don’t know. I’m so confused.”

“What happened?”

“Adam’s an asshole.”

His tone sharpened. “Are you all right?”

“I think so. I’m home.”

“Hold on.” His voice grew muffled like he’d put his hand over the receiver. “Kennedy, put Milky Way on her leash and walk her around out front for me.”

My stomach tightened.Milky Way? Oh no, no, no.“What’s happened? Is Bobby…?”

Daniel sighed. “Kerri called me a couple of hours ago. He went in the hospital yesterday, but he’s doing better today. They think he’ll be home by Friday at the latest. She brought Milky Way over to me because she lives in a no-pets apartment.”

Daniel sounded calm enough, but my worry persisted. “He was fine when I went in for my rounds this past week. I promise, he was fine.”

“Hey, it’s okay.” I could imagine his brown eyes softening in reassurance. “That’s what I thought you were calling about.”

“No…”

“Obviously, I’d have let you know before now, but I figured you were out of town this weekend.” He cleared his throat awkwardly. “I figured you planned to see Adam.”

“Right. I did. See him, I mean.” I scrubbed at my scalp with my nails. “How’d Bobby end up in the hospital?”

“He cut his foot on a bottle cap he’d dropped on the floor. He couldn’t reach his sole to clean it, and he claims he forgot to tell you or Kerri about it. It got pretty infected. But, like I said, they think he’s going to be okay.”

I pressed my forehead to the cool countertop. “Are you sure?”

“Well, obviously there are no guarantees.” Daniel spoke softly. “He has AIDS, and he’s in a hospital full of germs and sick people, but…hopefully.”

I closed my eyes and listened to Daniel breathe at the other end of the line.

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