Page 30 of The Challenge

I picked up. “Hey!”

“Hey, you. I’m just calling to check in. You sort of disappeared off the face of the Earth.”

“I’m sorry. I’ve been meaning to update you.”

“Did you find another place to stay?”

“No. Still at Evan’s.”

“Ha. I wondered.” She laughed. “Imagine if you didn’t know the person who owned the place. Where would you have gone?”

“Actually, I think I might’ve locked myself away in this storage unit.” I looked around. “I’m not even joking.”

“Is that where you are now?”

“Yeah. I could stay here all day and still barely make a dent. I’ve come here numerous times already, but it’s still going to take me weeks to go through it all. Evan helped me cart away some of the bigger items the other day, though.”

“Oh really?” Liz sounded intrigued.

“Why do you say it like that?”

“Well, if he’s helping, the dynamic between you must have shifted. You were barely speaking to him when you first got there. You said he was colder than the weather, remember?”

A lot had changed in the week since I’d returned to Dry River. I no longer felt like a stranger in Evan’s house. I looked forward to waking up in the mornings, looked forward to seeing him and Effie in the evenings and taking a warm shower with Effie’s pomegranate bodywash. Evan’s was starting to feel like home—and that was dangerous.

“Maybe that’s a good reason not to give up on finding a place,” I admitted.

“If things are going well, why would you still want to move?”

“Because I’m starting to feel things I shouldn’t, given the state of my life right now. I’m too vulnerable.”

“Feeling things for the little girl…or for him?”

“Both, to be honest. There’s just something about being at their house that reminds me of home. It’s the only semblance of home I have left here. But that’s unsettling for obvious reasons.”

It wasn’t really Evan’s house that brought me comfort, though. It was Evan. He’d been a piece of my family at one time, too. The more I was around him, the more I remembered the good times we’d had, the way we’d challenged each other to be the best versions of ourselves.

“The universe works in funny ways, Chloe. Maybe God brought Evan into your life again because He knew you couldn’t go through this alone.”

“I don’t know…” It might’ve been nice to think that, yet I had a hard time believing God was anywhere to be found these days, considering what had happened to my mother.

“You said you were there for Evan during a tough time in his life, right? Maybe this is a way of him being there for you.”

“He didn’t choose to be here for me, though,” I clapped back.

“Sure he did. He hasn’t told you to leave. That’s choosing you.”

“Not wanting to kick me out and choosing me are two different things.”

“You said he helped you at the storage unit.”

“Okay…” I sighed. “Your argument is getting stronger by the second.”

“I know it is.” Liz chuckled.

After the phone call, I took a seat in the middle of the storage space to rest and reset. I flipped open one of my old diaries and read.

Evan is off to Germany in a week. It feels surreal. It’s not like he’s going to war or anything, though. At least I hope not. I wish he wasn’t leaving. But he says he’s only going to do four years so he can get school paid for. I hope it goes by fast, and I hope he’s not different when he comes back. His mom’s been gone now for a month. I wonder how Carmen would feel about Evan joining the Army?