Total pages in book: 190
Estimated words: 185785 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 929(@200wpm)___ 743(@250wpm)___ 619(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 185785 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 929(@200wpm)___ 743(@250wpm)___ 619(@300wpm)
At that, she downs almost half of her new glass of wine with a grave look on her face. She’s already heard this part.
“It doesn’t need to be repeated,” I say.
My phone rings.
“Killian Coulter. Oh God.” I stare at the screen.
“Shit,” she says, “let it go to voicemail and see what he says.”
That’s what I do.
I wait for the voicemail alert sound and then play it on speaker.
“Hi Violet, it’s Killian Coulter. Can you ask Raymond to call me immediately, please? Thank you. Sorry to disturb your evening.”
It begins to ring again.
“Killian again,” I say. “Shit. Should I answer?”
“Do it, maybe he’ll know what’s happening. Maybe he’s just found out Ray got hit by a bus.” She shrugs and pours more wine into my glass.
I stare at my ringing phone.
Susanna reaches over and taps the screen with a long metallic purple tipped finger, putting Killian on speaker.
Eek.
She jerks her chin up reassuringly.
“Hello?” I greet, shooting her a look of panic.
“Violet?”
“Yeah, sorry, I just missed your call. I was about to call you back. Ray’s not here.”
“I was calling back to leave an additional message, but now that I have you, do you know when he’s coming? He didn’t take the shuttle my assistant arranged for him. In fact, didn’t even check out of the hotel. His things were just gone.”
“That’s the thing; I don’t know. I went to the airport tonight to pick him up as he told me he’d be back tonight, and they won’t tell me anything, but that flight came and went and…”
“No Raymond?”
“No. No Ray.”
“You drove there to pick him up,” he states.
“Yeah.”
“When was the last time you heard from him?” he asks.
“He texted me the other day to tell me about his flight plans and asked me to be there.”
“How did he sound last time you talked to him?”
“I haven’t talked to him.”
“You haven’t?”
“No.”
“Since when?”
“Since I dropped him off at the airport a week ago. I only got the one text the other day. Tuesday, I think.”
The phone goes eerily quiet for a beat before he speaks again.
“If he turns up, I need to speak with him immediately. If he doesn’t make efforts to call me, would you please let me know he’s there? Can you do that for me?”
“Um… yes.”
“Even if he tells you he’ll call me later, can you send me a quick text just telling me he’s back?” His voice is filled with urgency. “It’s important.”
“Is he in trouble?”
“I’d rather not discuss that. I don’t want to involve you,” he says.
I struggle to swallow.
“Can you do that for me, Violet?”
“I can do that, Killian,” I say.
“Good girl. If I hear otherwise, I’ll call or text you back.”
“Okay.”
“Thanks, Violet. Take care.”
He ends the call.
I gulp back some wine and then stare at a wide-eyed Susanna.
“He sounds sexy,” she announces as she opens the third bottle of wine.
***
I had my Friday spa day, with a facial, waxing, manicure, pedicure, and a massage and I felt almost like a million bucks when I got home. Almost like my old self.
I was shy of the million-dollar feeling, though, because of the unknown with Ray.
Susanna stayed with me, and I heard nothing from Ray. Not a thing.
I also hadn’t heard from Killian.
We got drunk again Friday night on pina coladas and laughed until we cried – not talking about Ray at all, not doing anything but being us. It was like medicine for me.
We fell asleep, both of us, in my bed.
Saturday, we did a whole lot of nothing – which was everything I needed. We watched movies and ate junk food and she filled me in on some of the love life disasters she’d experienced in the past year and a half. I was not looking forward to single life and dating again, that was for sure. When I told her I had no plans to date anyone for a while, she waved her hand at me and told me I was a) ridiculous and b) should get out there immediately and make up for lost time.
Sunday afternoon, we went to Susanna’s mom’s house and she made dinner for us and treated me like her long-lost other daughter.
She seemed to know a bit about what’d gone on. She didn’t say anything, but her gentle extra-maternal attitude with me let me know she knew. Suse had been on the phone with her when I got out of the shower that morning, so I suspected Lorena had been filled in then. She and Suse have always been super-close, and seeing her giggle on the phone with her mom makes me miss mine.
I need to make things right with my folks.
I call my mom Sunday night and ask if I can come by on Tuesday after work.
“Oh. Why?” Mom inquires. “Do you want to come for dinner?”
“Dinner would be great, Mom.”