Hey.
Nothing like a textmessage that’s short and sweet.
You okay?
He asks immediately.
Oh, yeah, just busy with work.
Did you give the visit some thought?
I did.
And?
Oh boy, here goes.
I’d love to.
A second later, my phone rings, and Alec’s name appears. “Hello?”
“You’re coming?” He sounds excited.
“I am.”
“Great!” I smile, envisioning the exclamation point at the end of his statement. “When?”
“Well, when would it work for you?”
“I looked at my schedule and think it’d be good the second week of November. Maybe fly in on Thursday the 10thor Friday the 11th?”
I glance at the calendar. Three weeks from now. “I’ll need to see if I can take time off work.”
“Great. You do that, and I’ll look into airfare.”
I feel terrible about him paying for my flight. “I’ll pay you back.”
He doesn’t address that when he responds next. “Looking forward to your visit. I’ll send you a link about Killeen and the surrounding communities. You can see what you’d like to do while you’re here. I’m going to try to switch a couple of my shifts around, but I may have to work part of the time, but we’ll figure it out.”
“All right. Sounds good.”
We’re both quiet for a little bit. Alec breaks the stalemate. “Heard anything about Vicky and my brother?”
“I have. I wrote it in my next letter. You should get it soon.”
“Go ahead and tell me that part. I’ll pretend to be surprised when I read it.”
I laugh, then get serious. “According to my dad, who heard it from Aunt Annabelle, they’re working on it. It seems Anthony had had enough. When Vicky wouldn’t open the bedroom door to let him in to talk, he kicked it open. I guess that was the grand gesture Vicky was waiting for, but it helped that, after the door was open, he got on his knees and begged for forgiveness.”
“Wow.” Alec sounds surprised. “He kicked the door open? I told him to do that.”
“Yep. That’s what my aunt said.”
I hear him take a quick breath, then a guttural kind of laugh hit my ear. “Shit,” he says between guffaws. “How long have they been like this? Months? It took destruction of property to get her to talk to him?”
“Since the wedding, and yeah, I guess.”
“God, if I ever behave like a clueless idiot, be sure to kick my ass, yeah?”
