Page 99 of Wild Flower

“I was warned you might be drunk.”

“You were warned correc—erectly, cock-rectly, cor-erection. I’m drunk.”

He laughs and it feels so good to hear that. It feels like a blanket wrapping around my shoulders and holding me close.

“Finn couldn’t find you,” I blurt out. “But then he found you. Or he found your sister. But we don’t know where you are.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Your sister in Hawaii.”

There’s a long silence. “How do you know that?”

I thrust the phone in Miranda’s face. “You want me to talk to him?” she asks.

“Show him the picture.”

“What picture?”

“The Finn-one. The text. The sister one.”

Miranda takes my phone. “Hey Archer,” she says. “I’m going to send you a text. Hold on.” She sends him the picture, before handing the phone back.

“That’s how I know,” I slur. “Finn found it. We couldn’t find you. You weren’t at work or your house. So he social media-d her. You know?”

There’s silence on the other end and my heart starts ratcheting.

“Archer?” I ask. “You’re with her, yes?”

“I am,” he says softly, followed by another deafening silence.

“Arch?” I wait again, but nothing. I hold the phone out to Miranda. “He doesn’t want to talk to me.”

“Did he hang up?”

“No.”

“Then he can still hear you, hun.”

“Shit.” I pull the phone back to my ear. “I miss you,” I say, because it’s true. I’m pissed and confused and scared out of my mind, but the one thing that’s for sure is I’ve hated this time apart. I know I created it, but it still hurts. “Maybe we should talk another time when I’m not so—”

“I miss you, too.”

My heart warms. I just need to hear him say that over and over on repeat, and I’ll sleep perfectly.

“But you’re right,” he continues. “It’s probably best if you sober up before we … do this.”

That sounds heavy.

“Okay,” I agree. “Please call Finn. He’s the one who’s been, you know, looking and … call him.”

“Okay,” Archer says. “Can you give Miranda the phone before you hang up?”

I nod, but he can’t see that. Still, I hand the phone to my friend. “He wants to talk to you.”

She takes the phone and gets up from the couch, moving out of reach. I snuggle into the pillows next to me and my eyelids feel like they’ve got bricks attached to them.

He misses me.

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