Shane: “You know I do, but—”
Micah: “But nothing. You do realize you’re the one who fucked up, right?”
Shane: “Did you read what she wrote today? She got what she wanted.”
The other voice. Noah? “You know, Shane. I tell you this all the time, but you are your own worst enemy.”
Shane. “No, you are.”
Micah: “Stop it, both of you, or I’ll turn this bus around right now.”
Jo and I just stared at each other, eyes wide, as we listened in. “Should I hang up?” It seemed obvious I shouldn’t be eavesdropping on them. “I should hang up.”
My thumb hovered over the End button, but she lifted a hand. “Wait a second.”
She took out her phone and typed something. A ringtone sounded through my speaker, and she grinned. “That was my text to Micah.”
A second passed before we heard Micah saying, “Shane, check your phone.”
The ruffling sound increased, and then Shane’s voice came through, loud and clear. “Layla? What the—”
“I think you accidentally called me.”
“What? When? How long ago?”
“Just a second ago. I couldn’t hear much. Are you on the bus?”
“Yeah, we just left Baltimore. It’s only a couple of hours to D.C., so we’re pressing on. I guess we get to sleep in tomorrow for a bit once we get to the hotel.”
“How was your show?”
Jo stood and patted my back.
Shane’s voice continued out the speaker. “We had a good crowd.”
Jo pointed toward the house with a tilt to her head, clearly wanting to give us privacy. I nodded, and as she slipped through the sliding door, I switched the speaker off and held the phone to my ear. I wanted to listen to his voice like he was right there with me.
“Glad to hear it.” The hitch in my voice gave away the emotion I wanted to hide.
Maybe he heard it because he added, “To be honest, it wasn’t as fun without you here.”
Should I tell him I missed him, too?
“So, does that mean you’re no longer mad at me?”
“I’m not mad, Layla. I’m hurt. There’s a difference.”
“You’re overreacting.”
“Am I? I told you I needed more time, and not three days later, I get this email with links to pages filled with every single thing I’ve told you freaks me out.”
“What do you mean you got an email?”
“It doesn’t matter. It should have come from you. You could have warned me.”
He was right about that. “I know. And I’m sorry.” I sighed. “But you also said you were going to try and trust me. At the first bump in the road, you demanded I sever all ties with your friends. That’s not an overreaction?”
“I shouldn’t have asked that of you, but at that precise moment, I needed some certainty that you wanted to be with me. Only me.”
