Page 163 of Of Heartbreak and Harmony
“Promise.”
42
CALLIE
The moment Torrenand my mom leave the room, Glory turns to me with wide, apologetic eyes.
“I’m so, so sorry for scaring you before, Cal. I didn’t know what to say. I froze and I made it worse and?—”
“Glory, no. You didn’t do anything wrong. Honestly. I was disoriented and confused. I barely even remember it.”
Her face twists into a frown. “But we’d been waiting for days for you to wake up, and then when you did, I freaked you out and then they had to put you back under. I thought for sure Torren would flip.”
I furrow my brow. “Did he?”
“No. He said it wasn’t my fault. But still. I feel like an asshole.”
“You’re not an asshole, Glory Bell...” My lips twitch with a small smirk. “Well, not about this, anyway.”
Her face goes flat and unamused. “Ha. Ha. Ha.”
I smile and suppress a yawn. It’s only been two days since I woke up, and I’ve only spent a matter of hours actually awake, but it feels like I’ve gone a week straight without sleep.
“Oh, I almost forgot.” Glory jumps from her perch at the end of my bed and digs through the large duffle bag my mom brought with her. She pulls out a phone and hands it to me. “The old one was...” She grimaces. I get it. The old one was ruined in the seven-car pile-up. “Well, anyway, this is your new one. We transferred your number and contacts and everything. It’s working.”
“Thank you, Glor.” I tap the screen on, then promptly tap it back off again when I see over three hundred text messages and missed calls. “Jesus.”
“Yeah, it’s been blowing up. We’ve already blocked a bunch of reporter numbers, too, but the texts are all legit.”
I take a deep breath and drop the phone on my lap. “I’ll start going through them later.”
Torren and my mom reappear in the doorway with bags of takeout from a local clean-eating restaurant. I have to eat foods that are “gentle” right now, so they are all doing it in solidarity. It’s kind of them, but what I really want is a giant cheeseburger or a greasy slice of pizza. Instead, I am handed a leafy salad, light on the dressing, with unseasoned chicken and a dairy-free fruit smoothie. It’s delicious despite not being what I want.
“Oh, Sav wants to know if you’ll be up for visitors on Monday,” Torren says through bites of salad. “I told her probably not, but she threatened my life if I didn’t ask.”
I furrow my brow realizing I have absolutely no concept of time at the moment. “What day is it?”
“It’s Saturday.”
Saturday. I don’t know if I’ll ever wrap my head around just how many days I spent unconscious. I force a smile and nod.
“I’d actually love to see her. Mabel and Jonah, too?”
I don’t miss the way Torren doesn’t make eye contact when he answers. “Yeah, Mabel will come. Jo probably won’t, though. He’s got some shit going on.”
I wrestle down the questions circling my brain. I think there’s a lot I’m still unaware of, and I get the feeling Torren is choosing to reveal all the details slowly. I both hate it and appreciate it. Damn him for already knowing me so well.
“Ezra has started texting me, too,” Glory chimes in. “He and the guys want to come see you. I told him to stop texting me and to wait for you to contact him. He’s worse than Torren King with the whole need for constant attention thing.” She waves her hand in Torren’s direction. “The dog, obviously, not you.”
Torren snorts out a laugh and shrugs. “I mean, sometimes me.”
I don’t comment on their exchange as I pick up my phone and sendSav a text.
Me
I’d definitely be down for visitors. Fair warning, I look like I’ve been in a severe car accident.
Sav Loveless
