"Thanks, Ollie."
"Nothing to thank me for. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed. Oh, hang on a minute. Callie's here."
Ollie's voice was muffled while he spoke to Callie for a few moments before coming back on the line.
"I told her about the appointment, and she wants to know if she should call Alara."
Reaves thought about it for a moment. "She can try. I'd love to call her myself right now and see how she's feeling. She has to be nervous about tomorrow. But… we're not at that place, you know."
"I know, but I bet you will be soon. And that's exactly what Callie was saying. Hang on, I'm going to hand you over."
Reaves smiled when Callie came on the line.
"Hey. What do you think, should I give her a call? I know you want to but won't, even though I think you should."
"You know my position, Callie. I don't want to put any pressure on her."
"No, I know, and that's admirable. But it still leaves Alara sitting there alone, with no one to talk to the night before an appointment she must have been dreading as well as looking forward to for weeks now."
"Yeah, you're right. When I left Dad's place, she was going to put Zia to bed and she was going up, too. She might be sleeping, I don't know."
"It's not that late, so I'll call her. If she doesn't answer, I can leave a message. Tell her I'll be thinking about her tomorrow."
Reaves froze. "Wait, no, hang on a sec, Callie. Then she'll know that I told you about the appointment."
"And you think that's a bad thing?"
"I…" He shook his head. "I honestly don't know. On the one hand, I don't feel like I should be sharing her news. On the other…" He let out a short laugh. "And I know you'll understand this. I don't feel like I should hide from her the fact that I have."
"I know exactly what you mean," said Callie. "Keeping secrets didn't work out too well for any of us in the beginning. But I'll tell you what. I'll just call her and ask her what she's doing tomorrow. Then she can tell me herself."
"Thanks, Callie. I don't mean to go behind her back or anything."
"No, I know what you mean, I understand it. But hopefully it'll work out well enough if I ask her what she's up to tomorrow. And while we're on the subject, what are you guys doing on Saturday?"
"I don't have any plans. I can't speak for Alara, but generally, she and Zia hang out at Dad's place on the weekends."
"That's what I was thinking. I'll ask her if you guys all want to come over here on Saturday. Zia loves the dogs, and we can all hang out by the pool." Her voice was a little muffled as she said, "Right, Ollie?"
"Put him on speaker so I can talk to him too."
"Sorry." Callie's voice was clearer now. "I didn't mean to hog him, Reaves. You can have him back now. But before I go, should I mention Saturday to Alara?"
"Yeah, sure. I think it'd do them both good to get out and about. And…" His smile faded. "Depending how this appointment goes, she might want to take her mind off it."
"I vote we just float it as an idea for now," said Ollie.
"Yeah," Reaves agreed. "But listen, I'll let you guys go."
"Okay, I'll get on with Elliott now and figure out the flight for tomorrow. You forget about work—focus on Alara, and let me know what they say."
"And me," Callie added.
"Okay, I will. And thanks, guys. Talk to you tomorrow."
He ended the call and took a slug of his beer, hoping that he'd be able to call them with good news after Alara's appointment.
~ ~ ~
