Page 56 of Something Blue

I miss you.

Andy glared at the words on the screen until his eyes watered. He swiped at his face angrily. He had tried to do everything he could, but she was still hung up on Chase. Without sending the texts, he turned off his phone.

He slammed his car into drive and peeled out of the side street and onto the main highway, rocks and dust flying up behind. Some sleep was all he needed to get his head on straight.

* * *

The next week was one of the worst Andy had ever had. He yelled often at his employees, missed hours of sleep, and avoided every single one of his mom’s calls.

Whenever he felt like talking to Sadie, he wrote more on his note app.

I missed you today. Only four hours of sleep last night. I tossed and turned and only thought about you.

I yelled at Tanner again. Have I ever told you he’s my best friend? This lack of sleep thing isn’t helping. How are you doing? I’m going crazy not knowing what’s happening in your life. I miss you.

My mom called again. I don’t know what to tell her. I really messed everything up.

When his chest ached, he reread the messages he’d never sent, but it did little to comfort him. By Friday, he couldn’t stop himself from calling her.

The first time it rang, he hung up. But he hadn’t even heard her voice, so he called again until she answered.

“Hello? Andy?”

That had been enough for him. She had said his name. He hung up before she could say more. Just hearing her say two words kept him going the rest of the day. But by evening, he missed her ten times more and called again.

This time, he had a pen aimed at his leg for when he might chicken out. It rang three times before she picked up.

“Hello? Andy? Are you going to talk now or hang up again?”

A long silence filled the phone. Then he stabbed his leg with his pen to make himself talk and yelled out. “Ahhh!”

“Andy? Are you okay?” Her worried voice filled his ears. “Andy, are you okay? What’s wrong? Did someone kidnap you?”

He chuckled for the first time in a week. “I’m—”

“You’re what? Are you okay, or is this a prank call? I’m hanging up now.”

His heart sped up at the thought of not talking to her anymore. “No, Sadie, I’m fine. I . . . I stabbed my leg with a pen.”

Silence, and then a small laugh. “You did what?”

He laughed again and the heavy weight in his chest lifted. “I’ve been afraid to call, so the pen took my leg hostage . . . and promised to stab me if I didn’t say something.”

“Oh man. I didn’t expect to hear that. Well, in any case, I’m glad you said something.”

The sound of her laughter was music to his ears.

He paused, letting her words sink in. “You are?”

“Sure,” she said nonchalantly. “I’ve been worried you were going to prank call me the rest of our lives.”

He stabbed the pen into his leg again to counter the disappointment creeping into his chest. Did that mean she hadn’t missed him at all?

“How have you been doing?” he asked, forcing the words out of his mouth.

She clucked her tongue. “Oh, you know. I’m back to doing every shift I can.”

A small wave of relief washed over him. Things were back to normal. Chase wasn’t around her, and she was in his territory again.

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