Nestling into the pillows, Eliza fixed her gaze on the ceiling, distracting herself with the strange shadows cast by his night-light.
How would she survive an entire summer without him? It didn’t seem possible.
Her mother had actually told her to try to enjoy it.Take some time for yourself,she’d said.Get a hobby,she’d said.
Eliza covered her face with the pillow, muffling an exasperated scream.
Maybe she should call? Maybe something was wrong….
Jolting upright in bed, Eliza snatched the phone off the nightstand, her heart hammering inside her throat.
Her fingertip hovered over the screen while she chewed her bottom lip raw. Was she being paranoid? Too needy? Toomothery? Was that even a word?
The trill of her cell phone reverberated around the room, and in her surprise, Eliza chucked it into the air. Scrambling to catch it, she tumbled from the bed in a tangle of cotton sheets.
“Hello? Ben? Hello?” Breathless, she squashed the phone against her ear, not waiting for a response. “Are you there?”
“Eliza? It’s Grant. Are you okay?”
Wincing, she glanced at her scraped elbow. She must have banged it against the nightstand in her haste to answer the phone. “Yes, I’m fine. Is Ben there? It’s an hour past his bedtime.” She winced again. This time, due to her reproachful tone.
“Sorry. We started the movie later than I thought.”
Eliza sighed, sitting cross-legged on the floor. “No, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. I… it’s…”
“It’s hard being apart?” Grant asked softly.
For a moment, Eliza wasn’t sure if he meant from Ben… or him.
“Harder than I thought,” she admitted, although that wasn’t entirely true. She’d anticipated it would be like ripping her heart from her chest cavity with her bare hands. And she’d been pretty spot-on.
“So,” she said quickly, banishing the emotion from her voice with a cough. “How’s it going?”
“Good. I showed him around the neighborhood. Then we ordered pizza and watched a movie. He’s brushing his teeth now.”
To her horror, Eliza felt tears prick the backs of her eyes. She held the phone away from her face as she sniffled.
“Eliza?”
“Yeah, I’m here.” Distracting herself, she yanked the bundle of sheets across her lap, smoothing out the creases.
“Thank you.” Grant’s words floated through the speakers barely above a whisper. And yet she had to stop herself from reading into his tender inflection.
She bit her lip, blinking back tears even though he couldn’t see her face. “You’re welcome,” she said at last, her tone convincingly steady.
She heard him clear his throat before saying, “Ben wouldn’t go to sleep without saying good night to you first. I thought about a video call, but it’s late and…”
He trailed off, and there was so much Eliza could infer in what hedidn’tsay. But rather than ask, she said, “A video call would be great.”
“Okay. Then I’ll have Ben call you back.”
“Thanks.” Eliza held her breath as they sat in silence, not speaking for several seconds.
“Lizzy?”
Her pulse skipped. “Yes?”
“Good night.”
