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“Rory, where are you?”

“I had to leave,” she grumbled. “Hard to explain.”

“Okay, well, uh…” Melanie stuttered. “S-something happened.”

She tightened the grip on her steering wheel. “What happened?”

“I-I don’t—” Melanie couldn’t get the words out. Was she crying?

There were muffled sounds, words exchanged in whispers that Rory couldn’t make out, before the phone was given to someone else.

“He’s injured,” Calvin said, his voice calm.

She felt her heart stop. Her vision went blurry and, in an instant, she was pulling off the road, throwing her car into park. “Wh-what happened?”

“One of Westford’s defensemen tackled him from behind after he made a catch. They think it’s something to do with his leg or knee. He’s still on the ground, not moving.”

Panic rose in her chest. On the ground. Not moving.

“They’re rushing onto the field with a stretcher,” she heard Melanie say distantly.

“Where are you?” Calvin asked pointedly.

“Not there,” she whispered, more to herself than anyone else.

She could feel the tension through the phone as Calvin remained silent. There were nervous murmurs around him on the phone, a few people yelling in the distance. “Why?” he finally asked.

Rory wasn’t sure why she said it, especially to Calvin, but she was tired of fighting the truth. “Because he doesn’t need me anymore. He’ll leave me, just like everyone else.”

She heard Calvin sigh over the phone, like he was calculating the exact words to say next. She waited impatiently for his reply, regretting her words instantly. She felt too exposed.

She heard shuffling on the other end of the phone, the sounds of Calvin descending the stands and stepping away from the crowd so he could say what he needed to in private. For the briefest moment, she felt thankful for him.

“No matter the distance, I don’t think he could ever leave you,” Calvin replied slowly. “I don’t know exactly what’s going on between the two of you, but I do know that you will always be his family. Because that’s what you’ve been to him since the moment you first met. And true family never leaves.”

Rory was now crying on the side of the road, her face in her hands. “No one sticks around for me, Calvin. I don’t know what it’s like to have a real family.”

“But you do,” he countered. “Just because Scoops is closed right now doesn’t mean you don’t have us. You basically told my girlfriend the same thing when she moved here last summer, and the same goes for you. We will always stick together. No matter how messy life gets. Understand?”

She was openly sobbing now, all her emotions flooding over. Calvin didn’t hang up, didn’t even say anything until Rory was finished, just being with her on the phone. Staying with her, like a family was supposed to.

“Thanks,” she murmured, wiping away tears and snot with the sleeve of her sweatshirt.

“Promise me something?”

She let out a shaky breath. “What?”

“Talk to Melanie about Tyler. She’s honestly your biggest fan. She would do anything for you.”

He must not know then. Melanie didn’t tell him a thing. She truly did not deserve her.

Rory wiped her nose with her sweatshirt sleeve. “Calvin—”

“I know she’s going through a lot,” he interrupted. “But she is a hell of a lot stronger than she looks. She lost her brother, Rory. She doesn’t want to lose her sister, too.”

She was crying again. “What am I supposed to do right now?”

“Go home. Wait for him. Talk to him and be honest. What do you have to lose?”