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Valencia’s was.

I set my phone down, opened my email to see his email waiting for me. I clicked on it, not knowing what I was gonna find. It was over fifty pages that I skimmed searching for his address. My phone lit up and I realized I had just missed another call from Tomás. Shit, this wasn’t good. Opening my phone, I was about to call him when I hesitated. This could be nothing, just my father being an asshole and trying to get his way because I wasn’t giving him what he wanted.

I couldn’t deal with this right now, he would have to wait till I made sure Valencia was ok. A text message immediately popped up from Tomás.

Brown nose: Answer your fucking phone, dude.

Me: Can this wait? I just got out of practice.

Brown nose: Are you ok?

Me: I’m fine.

Brown nose: Call me immediately after you get out of practice, dad is going to have a shit when he finds out.

What the fuck was he talking about? Another text came through.

Hunt: Have you heard from Valencia? And what is her apartment number again?

Me: No, her apartment number is 34b.

Me: What happened? Is she ok?”

I called him because I couldn’t wait. No answer. I called Valencia and it went straight to voicemail.

Me: Answer your goddamn phone.

I didn’t know what to do. Should I head to her apartment now? What if nothing was wrong? I slammed my laptop shut, trying to reign in my panic by taking a deep breath. She was ok, everything was fine. It had to be.

31

Hunter

As I drove to have lunch with my mom, I wanted to cancel so bad. We had just had lunch a few weeks ago and if I told her why, she would have probably been ok with it, but I was scared to rush back into what I had. What if things had changed? I knew if they had, it would have been my fault. I felt the finality of my actions on that night were all together.

We needed to see each other, so I dialed Valencia’s number, and it went straight to voicemail. That was odd, I don’t think she ever had her phone off before. I dialed again to make sure it wasn't a carrier problem, and I was met with her voicemail again.

Hey, don’t leave a voicemail, I never check it, so just text me. That means you too, mom.

Her phone might have died, so I told myself to call her after lunch. I parked my car at a French cafe my mom liked to eat at. She was already sitting in a booth at the back of the restaurant looking at a menu, and my stepmom was with her. They spoke to each other and laughed at something before Helen threw an arm around my mom and kissed her temple.

“Hey, don’t start that,” I teased.

My mom laughed. “Honey, you've seen worse than that.”

I shivered from the awful memory of coming home early from high school to see them on the sofa. Helen shook her head as I kissed my mom on the cheek and then gave one to her too.

“It’s good to see you,” I said to Helen. “We've missed you the last few times.”

“Oh, honey it's been chaos at the hospital and we are down one doctor,” she said, looking exhausted.”

“That’s rough, I’m glad you have today off,” I said, giving her a smile.

“Me too, honey. I get to see you and finally ask how it's working out with the team.” She leaned forward.

“It's good, we've been winning lately and this year our record is good. We have to stay consistent for these last few weeks and then maybe we could get a spot in the championship,” I said, feeling hopeful.

“His teammate is super cute, too,” my mom chimed in. “He’s got a banging body.”

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