She was quiet, but I knew she just needed some time.
"It's the house, the new one. We were supposed to move in a few days ago. You know about the mold here. We need to get out of here as soon as possible. I thought the new house was a dream come true, but we haven't even moved in and it's already a nightmare. The realtor gave us the keys, but when we went over, the previous tenants were still there."
"They hadn't moved out?"
"Nope," she said. "The woman was very nice and apologized. She said they would be out yesterday, but when Billy went over, she was out trying to find a place. Billy ended up talking to her three kids, they're teens and she's a single mom. It brought back a lot for him of what he and his brother and sister went through growing up. He ended up giving them a few hundred dollars so they could go to a hotel, but between that and his brother passing away a few weeks ago, he broke down."
My heart went out to Sandra. She moved to Washington with her two kids to get away from an abusive husband. Once she was there, she reconnected with her boyfriend from the seventh grade, Billy. They moved in together pretty quickly, but four years later they were still together.
"So he started drinking," I said.
"Yes, well no. He had a couple of drinks when his brother died, but I thought that was it. I thought he had it under control. I think this happening so soon after his brother's death really messed him up. He's been staying in his office. I haven't seen him since he came home yesterday. I just know he's drinking in there."
We sat in silence for a moment. I ran through my head all the different things I could say to her, but nothing seemed right.
"What are you going to do?" I asked.
"We can't stay here and we're already packed. The kids and I are moving into the new place tomorrow. I've tried talking to Billy about it, but he won't respond. I can hear him, so I know he's okay, but he won't talk to me. I can't stay here though. I need to do what's right for Chloe and Charlie. We're moving tomorrow. Whether Billy comes with us...I don't know."
"Let me know what happens tomorrow," I said. "And Sandra, please, no matter what time it is, if you need to talk, if you need anything at all, you call me."
"Okay, I will. Thank you, Becca. Love you."
"Love you too."
I hung up and let out a long sigh. I wasn't kidding when I told Cassie yesterday that I loved hearing the story of how couples met. Sandra and Billy's story was one of my favorites. I rooted for them to make it work.
I managed to spend the rest of the day without thinking about Gideon and his texts. It wasn't like him to say anything like that. It had to be the alcohol talking.
As I got ready for bed, my phone rang. With my mind still on Sandra, I rushed to pick it up and answered without looking to see who was calling.
"Hello?"
The line was silent except for a dull hum on the other end.
"Hello? Sandra?" I said.
"It's Gideon."
His voice made me catch my breath. It was husky and deep and made me think thoughts about my friend that I shouldn't have.
I wasn't sure what to say. Why was I being so weird? I closed my eyes and reminded myself I was only feeling this way because of the holidays. Gideon was a relentless flirt, that was just who he was. I shouldn't take any of his flirting seriously.
"Hey," I said, trying to sound normal.
"I know we usually just text, but we need to talk," he said.
My eyes flew open. Why? Why did we need to talk? I didn't want to talk, especially not about what he was calling about.
"About last night? That was nothing," I said. "You just had a little too much to drink."
"You know I don't drink."
I did know that, I just didn't want to accept it. It was easier to believe he wasn't being genuine. I refused to believe he could see me as anything more than a friend.
"Well, I thought maybe--"
"No, Becca. You know me better than that. I need to go out of town for a couple of days on business, but I'm coming home on Friday. I want to see you. We need to talk about this."
