Page 96 of For Eva

“Eva?”

“Yeah, well, my husband and I got divorced, Danny, so, you know…I’ve been better,” I said, the words escaping before I could stop them.

He blew out a long breath. “Shit, Eva. I’m sorry.”

I mumbled an involuntary “thanks,” cursing myself for telling him something so personal…so painful.

“I, uh…I was kinda surprised you talked to theRolling Stoneguy,” he said. “But I guess I didn’t know—I mean, Idon’tknow—what happened after…everything.”

“Yeah, well, you don’t know because you fucking took off, Danny. But I talked to the reporter because I owed it to Eric.”

His breath shuddered at the mention of Eric’s name.

“I was wrong to leave. There aren’t words to tell you how sorry I am.” He paused. “I’m not sure my saying any of this matters now.”

I sighed, the tightness gripping my chest easing a bit. “I’m not sure, either. But thanks, I guess.”

He sighed. “Fuck, I wish I’d never let you go. You wouldn’t be going through all of this right now if I hadn’t been so fucking stupid.”

My eyes narrowed. “What did you just say?”

“I just meant if I hadn’t left, maybe we’d, you know, still be together. And you wouldn’t be in your, uh, situation.”

I balled my left hand into a fist, nails digging into flesh. “Fuck you,Danny.”

“Wha…what’d I say?”

A bitter laugh escaped from somewhere deep inside me. And then, when just moments before I’d thought I had nothing to say to Danny Kincaid, I realized I had plenty.

“You are un-fucking-believable,” I spat into the receiver. “Somehow, after nearlytwenty yearsof not seeing or talking to you, you’ve managed to makemypain all aboutyou. Well, let me tell you, Danny—I’m gratefulevery dayof my life that you left. I would go through all of this hurt a million times over, knowing I would get to be a mother to the two most incredible kids in the world. But you’ll never understand this because you’d need to have the ability to care about someone other than yourself. And you calling after what you did to me, Eric, and the band shows me once again how selfish you are, since I feel pretty damn confident this is all just an attempt to easeyourconscience. But good fucking luck with that because I can assure you, your apology meansnothingto me, Danny.Fucking nothing.”

I mashed my thumb into the button to end the call, throwing the phone on the bed and flopping back onto the mattress. I inhaled deeply, holding my breath until my body was ready to expel the anger that had settled somewhere deep inside of me all those years ago. Anger I hadn’t realized was still there.

The phone rang again. I groaned and swiped the receiver off the bed.

3-1-fucking-0.

I picked up, determined to put an end to this bullshit.

“I want you to listen to me,” I began, trying to keep my voice down. “I’m done. The conversation is over. So do not fucking call meever again.”

I tried to hang up, but the off button was stuck from when I’d jabbed it earlier.

“Goddamnit,” I muttered, beginning to dig at the edges of it with my nail when I heard the voice on the other end of the line.

“Hello? Do I…do I have the right number? Is this Eva?”

I cocked my head and looked at the digits on the screen. Definitely 310. But definitelynotDanny.

I raised the phone back to my ear.

“This is Eva. Who’s this?”

FIFTY-FOUR

Eric

December 2008

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