Josh lingered in the doorway. “Why are you screaming?” he asked, again more accusation than question, his eyes darting between his mother and the phone at her feet.
Chloe hadn’t realized she’d been screaming. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“I’m not scared,” Josh said. “Who said I was scared?”
“I’mscared,” Sasha whispered.
“It’s okay, sweetie,” Chloe told her. “There’s nothing to be afraid of.” She reached down to retrieve her phone, bringing it warily to her ear, hearing nothing.
“Is it broken?” Sasha asked.
“Yes.”
“Can you fix it?”
“No. I’ll have to get a new one.”And a new number,Chloe added silently. She understood that while the call to her landline might have been random, a call to her cellphone was most definitely not.
But if the caller wasn’t Matt, who else could it be?
“Who called?” Josh asked, as if reading her mind.
“No one,” Chloe said, tossing her injured cell onto the counter and leading the children out of the room. “Wrong number.”