Reed
My phone ringingjolts me awake. I don’t even try to open my eyes as I reach out and blindly feel for my phone on my nightstand. Once I finally feel it, I crack one eye open and see Briggs’s name on the screen and groan.
Damnit, Briggs.I slide my thumb across and answer, “You better be in jail or dying.” My voice is semi-muffled since I’m face down in bed.
“Why the fuck haven’t you answered your phone?”
I glance at the glowing blue numbers on my alarm clock. Four thirty-six.
What the fuck?
“Well, Asshole, it is only four-thirty in the morning, so like a normal person, I was asleep. Why are you even awake right now?”
“Your mom called me.”
I pull myself up with that statement. “What? Why would my mom call you? Damn, I was sleeping so hard, I didn’t hear the phone till now.”
“I don’t know, man, she said it was important and she couldn’t reach you. Call her now.”
Shit, shit, shit.My mind immediately goes to Emery. After the past few days she’s had, I hope she’s okay.
“Fuck, okay. Thanks.”
I sit up fully now, gathering my bearings for a second. I was sleeping hard as hell after an extra grueling practice. Every muscle in my damn body hurts today, even more than normal. I dial Mom’s number, and she answers on the first ring.
“Reed. Thank God,” she breathes.
I run my hand through my hair, still trying to wake up. “Yeah, Ma, what’s up? Everything okay? It’s the middle of the night.”
“I just got a call from your father.”
Unease creeps up my spine at the mention of Robert. Neither Emery nor I have seen him since I was eight and to say he’s a sore subject is an understatement, one we don’t usually broach. I have no idea why he’d be trying to reach me, especially not at four thirty-six in the damn morning.
“Why is Robert calling you in the middle of the night?” Just saying his name leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.
“I’m not sure, honey, he wouldn’t say. He said that it’s extremely urgent that he speaks with you. And to please try and have you call as soon as possible.”
“This makes no sense. He’s never tried to reach out before. What could he possibly have to say to me right now? Or period, Ma?”
I hear the hesitation in her voice. “Sweetheart, I know. I know you harbor a lot of ill feelings for him, but I can tell something is wrong. I was married to him for a long time, and I could hear it in his voice. I’m not saying you have to call him, that decision is completely up to you, but I do think that it’s important or he wouldn’t be reaching out to me in order to get in touch with you.”
I drag my hand down my face, the lull of sleep is finally gone, and now my heart is pounding inside my chest like a sledgehammer. I haven’t spoken to Robert in years. Since I was a child. Yet, the sting of his abandonment and betrayal still feels fresh. The thought of speaking to him causes dread to form heavy in my stomach. Why now?
What happened to prompt this call? Unease creeps up my throat until it feels like it’s too much to swallow back down.
“I don’t know if I can talk to him, Ma, not after everything. After he left us.”
“I know, honey, I… I could just hear the pain and panic in his voice. It’s been a long time, but I know him.”
I sigh, dragging in a ragged breath. The last thing I expected when I called her was to hear this. My chest feels tight with anxiousness. “Can you send me his number in a text? I’ll try. Once. Thanks, Ma.”
“I love you, honey,” she says softly. “Never forget that.”
Right now, I wish I was with her. I can’t imagine what it feels like for her, speaking to him for the first time since he left us. I’m sure her old wounds have broken open, just as they have for me.
We end the call, and a few seconds later, my phone chimes with a number.
The number is daunting; it’s big and bold, causing anger, familiar and sharp, to swirl deep in my gut, but I push it aside. I hit the digits and wait for the phone to ring.