Page 44 of Whenever You Call

I did have you.

I shook my head. “I’m not sure you did.”

The sound of my cell ringing pulled me from my daydream, and I quickly swiped the back of my hands over my eyes before I pulled it from the back pocket of my leggings.

I didn’t even look at the caller ID. “Hello?”

“Hannah?”

The familiar British accent made my eyes widen. “Kate? Is that you?”

“The one and only, beautiful.” Her husky yet soft voice swept over me like a comfort blanket I hadn’t known I’d needed.

Kate, one of the only true friends I’d made while married to Cole, because of Cole. I barely heard from her throughout the year, but every time we spoke, she lifted me up like no one else could. A fashion designer to the stars, she lived in London and flew around the world on a whim, always here, there, and everywhere, but never in one place for too long. For one of Cole’s first events as a global star, he’d flown Kate in to dress me, and the rest had been history.

I fell to the yoga mat in a heap, my legs crossing as I pressed my free hand to my mouth. “God, I’ve missed you.”

“I’ve missed you, too. So much. How are you? How’s Bells?”

“She’s… amazing,” I said, my smile brightening at the thought of my daughter who was currently upstairs with her guitar teacher—something her father had insisted on, and I hadn’t thought to quit, even though Bella didn’t seem all that enthusiastic about it. At least not yet. “She’s growing every day, and she’s so incredibly strong, Kate. Her resilience is something else.”

“Just like her mama.” I heard the grin in her voice.

“Yeah,” I said instead of bursting out laughing and telling her that only thirty seconds ago, I’d been having a full-blown bickering session with my dead husband.

“That was a patheticyeah,” she said, mimicking my voice. “You are strong, Hannah Moore. You might not feel it right now, and that’s understandable, but even strong people are allowed to feel weak when their world has been torn apart.”

“So soon into the conversation? Really?”

“You know how I love my pep talks.”

I chuckled, looking down into my lap before picking at some invisible lint on my leggings. “I’ve missed them.”

“I’m sorry. Time just flies by, and I don’t know my boob from my butt most days. Life has been so bloody manic.”

“That’s a good thing though, right? I mean, the label is doing phenomenally. You’re achieving everything you set out to achieve from the start. You’re the queen of the catwalk at every fashion show.”

“I’m also a micromanaging asshole who can’t delegate or let anyone make a decision about her company in case they get it wrong, which means I constantly have to do everything, despite there being literally twenty people around me who could do it perfectly well, and I’m absolutely knackered with no one to blame but myself.”

“Knackered?” I asked, sometimes needing help with her British ways.

“Tired, baby. Exhausted. Sodding knackered.”

“Ah. Sounds like you need to give yourself one of those pep talks you’re good at.” I smirked.

“I would never listen to me. Like I said, I’m an asshole.”

I laughed lightly.

The conversation went on with the two of us catching up on the little tidbits of each other’s lives. Kate, despite being desperate to be here for me, hadn’t been able to fly over for Cole’s funeral, and apparently, she still felt horrendous about it. I didn’t tell her that, at the time, I’d been grateful. She would have fought for me to get up out of my slump too quickly. I’d needed that time to wallow. To drown in the misery a little without having to entertain other people or their ideas of what I should have been doing.

Kate was still in London now, about to collaborate with an A-list celebrity on a one-off winter collection, and from what she was telling me, her and said celebrity were not gelling together too well. I listened to her moan about her life for twenty minutes as I sat on that yoga mat. It was nice to hear someone else’s problems and realize I was still perfectly capable of giving advice of my own.

At that thought, my mind drifted to Logan and the look on his face when I’d told him not everyone could be saved.

That had been the moment he’d pulled back, and I felt like an idiot for not having the words to make him feel better, the way he always seemed to do with me.

It was only when Kate said my name that I blinked back into the moment.

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