Page 119 of Keep Me

“I don’t know. Anything. I just need your voice.”

He lets out a deep breath through the phone as I pause on the sidewalk, listening for the sound of his car starting.

“I’m here,” I say. “It’s just a small drive, right? You’ve got this.”

“I’m fine,” he tells himself.

“Exactly,” I reassure him. “You’re perfectly safe.”

“I know I’m safe,” he argues. “I’m sitting on the bloody drive in front of the house. Areyousafe?”

A chuckle bubbles out of my chest. “I’m standing in front of a coffee shop in broad daylight. I’m fine.”

“Keep telling me that,” he grumbles, and I bite my lip with a smile. “It helps me for some reason.”

“I’m freezing my ass off, but I’m still fine,” I say through the phone line.

I hear the crunch of tires on gravel. “Do you need a better coat?” he asks, his voice tense.

“No,” I reply. “It’s January in New York. It’s fucking cold.”

“It’s cold here too,” he replies.

“How far are you going?” I ask.

“To town and back.”

“You can do that,” I said. “You did it before, remember? That night you picked me up in the city.”

He chuckles. “I was so bloody mad at you.”

I laugh in return. “I know you were.”

He’s quiet for a moment before he responds. “I wish you were in the car with me now.”

I let out a sigh. “Me too.”

Don’t start hoping, Sylvie. Don’t get your heart broken again.

I mean, who am I kidding? If he asked me to be there, I’d be on that plane in a heartbeat. But that’s not what he needs right now. He needs to do this part on his own. He needs to hear my voice and know that I’m here, but also know that he can do it without me.

“Talk to me,” he says in a grumbling tone.

God, I’ve missed that.

“Um…I’m publishing my book,” I say.

“Good,” he replies immediately.

“Well, not publishing it, exactly. More like…just printing it. For myself.”

“Can I have one too?” he asks, and I bite my bottom lip as a smile stretches across my face.

“Of course.”

“Do you have a new boyfriend?” The question catches me off guard. I freeze in my spot as my mouth falls open. Is this really what he wants to talk about while he’s trying to calm down?

“God, no,” I spit back.

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