He stared at her, trying to make sense of her frightened eyes and her breathless words. “I was asleep.”
“For how long?”
He glanced at the clock on the microwave. “Forty-five minutes?”
“I’ve been calling for hours. Why didn’t you answer?”
“What?” He scratched at his scalp, still sleepy, then blinked. “Oh. Phone’s dead. I dropped it in—um—I dropped it.” Being disconnected for a few days had actually been kind of nice. Better to lick his wounds in private without the distraction of text messages and phone calls from people who probably thought they were being nice, but were only reminding him how much he needed to be taken care of like a child.
“How dead is your phone exactly?”
“Super dead. Full of water.”
“Did you put it in rice?”
He’d tried that, but a quick Google search had shown if there had ever been a chance to save his phone, he’d needed to put it in rice the second he fished it out. And he didn’t have rice anyway. Not like the kind you needed for wet phones. He’d bought a couple packs of instant microwave rice, but it came in a flavor packet, already pre-buttered and sort of gooey on the inside.
“You can’t not have a phone. Put some clothes on.”
He went to protest he was dressed, but his sweats had stains, and his T-shirt was more holes than shirt. He changed and followed her out to her car.
They drove over to the big box plaza by the highway. Avery explained what had happened to a bored customer service guy who probably heard the same story a dozen times a day. “Handsets are here. Everything with a blue sticker is covered under your current plan.”
Avery picked one out and let the technician set it up.
“Turn it on,” Wanda said as they went back to her car. She was watching with wide eyes, like she’d never seen this happen before, but then, once the phone was up and running and he’d scrolled through the apps a couple times, her smile faded.
“It’s just a phone.” He shoved it into his pocket, but pulled it back out again when it vibrated. On the screen, a single text from a number he didn’t recognize popped up.
Test
“Huh.” Wanda pursed her lips and showed him the same message on her phone.
“I still have to get my contacts synced up.”
“Well, at least we know it works.”
She drove him home. As they pulled up outside, she turned and said, “I think you should talk to Linc.”
He unclipped his seat belt. “That’s not a good idea.” Three days later, the humiliation of standing alone on that stage no longer made him want to vomit, but he’d be damned before he let Linc off the hook.
Wanda frowned, but she said, “Have you been looking at places in Atlanta?”
“Yeah.” He couldn’t put much enthusiasm behind it. His anger at Linc was warring for dominance with his ongoing guilt about the conversation he’d had to have with his aunt and uncle. His aunt had planned a celebratory dinner the day after the auction, but he’d only been able to take about two bites of her dumplings before losing his appetite. He had to confess he’d changed his mind about buying the firm. His aunt cried, and Uncle Theo had put an arm around her shoulder while telling Avery in a solemn voice that they understood and only wanted what was best for him.
They really were the best parents a person could ask for.
“You going to be okay?” Wanda asked, breaking his train of thought.
“What? Yeah.” He forced a smile at her. “It’ll be awesome. Fresh start.” He’d probably been needing one for years. Avery tried so hard to fit in here in Seacroft, but he needed to acknowledge he’d outgrown it.
His apartment was empty and quiet. He surfed the internet, made more notes about places in Atlanta, ordered takeout, and dozed while he waited.
A steady buzzing from his kitchen counter woke him. At first, he thought someone was calling, but when he grabbed his new phone, the screen was dark. He swiped it on, and then watched as the counter on his text messages ticked upwards.
Six, seven, eight.
Must be the SIM card finally receiving missed messages from his old phone. The guy at the store hadn’t been able to say for sure if he’d get them. The first few were from Wanda and his aunt.
