Page 49 of Letters to Lily

“They want to keep me for 24 hours. I should be discharged tomorrow afternoon, as long as everything stays good.” It occurred to me then what Mal had told me earlier. Hey Mal?”

“Yeah?”

“You said you drove someone to my house earlier. Was it, by chance, Brad’s brother?”

“Yeah it is. How did you know?”

“He was the first emergency I needed to talk to Brad about. Do me a favor, and don’t tell him where I am. This is not the place I want to see him right now. Just tell him I’ll be home late tomorrow.”

“Okay, I will. Sash, if you need anything, you know you can call me, right? I know we’re not as close as you and Brad, but I will be there in a minute.”

“Thank you, Mal.” My mom and Kristin were standing in the doorway then. “I have to go, but I’ll let you know when I break out of this place tomorrow.” I turned to the quizzical looks they were both giving me and sighed. “You must have just missed the guest Mal brought to my house.” Both sets of eyes went wide as I explained the phone call I’d just received.

Chapter 20

Oct. 30

Dude, I don’t know why you’re not answering your phone, but I really need you to call me back!” I left yet another message on Brad’s cell phone, but I was tired of waiting. I was also beginning to wonder if he was ditching me because Sasha let him know I was the ex who left her. I’d heard the anger he harbored for his Prego’s ex on too many occasions for that not to be a legitimate concern. I only hoped he gave me the courtesy of letting me tell him what happened on my end.

That’s when I decided I would just make things happen on my own. Instead of waiting around for a phone call, I hopped in my Jeep and took off for Brad’s apartment. When I got there and banged on the door, his roommate was the one to open up.

“Hey man, is Brad around?”

“Brad is out of town at an away game until tomorrow. I’m not sure what’s up with his phone, but damn if everyone isn’t trying to track him down. I forgot where the spare key was last night,” he says with a laugh. “Luckily, we hadn’t changed the locks yet, and the crazy girl who stole my keys a couple months ago was kind enough to give them back now that she’s dating someone else.” He rolled his eyes. “Then our old neighbor, Kristin, called all kinds of frantic looking for him earlier. I swear, he’s never this in demand when he’s home.”

“Kristin? As in Kristin and Sasha who used to live right there?” I pointed across the landing to the opposite door.

“Yeah man, you know Kristin and Sasha?” I nodded my head in the affirmative. “They’re both great. Shame about Sasha’s situation.” He started shaking his head. “That’s the chick Brad’s always referring to as Prego, man. She’s fucking awesome as hell, and some dick wad did her totally wrong.”

“Do you know where they live now?”

“Sure man. We helped them move over the summer. Sash bought a really cute little house just down the road.”

“Take me there!” I probably looked like a crazy man just then, but I couldn’t tuck my desperation inside any longer. I needed to find Sasha like I needed my next breath.

“You know, I was being serious about Brad being gone to a game man. He’s not there.” Malcolm was looking at me strangely, obviously wondering what I would want with the girls.

“I need to see the girls!” My voice was frantic now too, and for whatever reason, Malcolm didn’t call me on it. He just reached for his keys and wallet, locked his door, and said, “Okay.”

We drove the three miles up the road from the apartment to a quiet little neighborhood set off the main road. Neither of us spoke the entire way there. The house that we pulled up to was a brick ranch style home with a one-car garage and shudders that were once a bright blue but were now dulled down to a blue-gray thanks to sun exposure.

There weren’t any cars in the driveway, but I ran up and knocked anyway, not waiting for Mal to even get out of his truck. No one answered, and there didn’t appear to be anyone home either so with head hung low, I walked back over to Mal’s truck. I hoped that if I explained myself a little, he would be able to get in touch with one of the girls. He was already on his cell though, so I just stood there and tried desperately to eavesdrop on his conversation in the hopes that he was talking to Sasha and might find out where she was.

“Heya, sexy lady. I don’t know if I did the right thing, but I gave someone a ride to your house.”

He was listening to someone on the other side of the conversation for a minute, and then his eyes bugged out and he looked a little panicked. “What the hell?” After another pause for him to listen he tried talking again. “Are you…”

Apparently, whoever he was talking to enjoyed cutting him off, because it happened again and he listened for a few more minutes before he added, “Does Brad know yet? I’ll keep trying to call him, but I think something must have happened to his phone, because he’s been out of commission since they left for the game. I saw some coverage of the team practicing yesterday though, and he was in the shot, so he’s fine.”

The person on the other side was talking again, and he was pacing back and forth, obviously agitated by something at this point. “How long will you be there?” He finally asked whoever was on the other line. There was a quick pause, followed by him saying,“Yeah?” I was starting to pace next to the truck along with him, as he followed up another brief pause, before he glanced in my direction, with yet another question. “Yeah it is. How did you know?”

My heart leapt straight into my damn chest when I heard the next words out of his mouth. “Okay, I will. Sasha, if you need anything, you know you can call me, right? I know we’re not as close as you and Brad, but I will be there in a minute.” He hung up before I could stop him.

“No! You have to call her back. That was Sasha? Please, please, call her back!” I was begging, and seriously, I probably had tears in my eyes at this point. Malcolm’s jaw was hanging slack as he stared at the spectacle that I was making of myself.

“Okay, first, I need you to calm down and take a breath. Then, you’re going to explain to me why you suddenly need to talk to Sasha so bad, because I was never under the impression that the two of you even knew one another. And thirdly, I think you’re going to need to explain a few more things if what I’m piecing together turns out to be true.”

“Maybe we should sit down for this, it’s going to take a little while.” I turned to open the truck door and get in. “First, can you tell me if they’re coming back soon?”

---