Page 124 of The Lineman

“Michael, are you all right?” Omar narrowed his eyes. “Blink twice if you’ve been replaced by an alien.”

I sighed, rubbing the bridge of my nose. “I’m fine.”

Matty wasn’t buying it.

He leaned in, his voice lower. “Come on, precious. You haven’t even talked that much tonight, and youlivefor trivia.”

Omar nodded. “Yeah. If you were any quieter, I’d think you were giving us the silent treatment.”

I shook my head, swallowing past a weird lump in my throat. “It’s nothing. Just . . .” I hesitated, gripping my beer glass a little tighter. “Elliot’s working the tornado damage.”

Matty and Omar exchanged glances, their teasing expressions shifting to something softer.

“That’s why you’ve been weird all night,” Matty said.

I let out a breath and nodded, still refusing to make eye contact with either of them. “It’s just . . . I haven’t heard from him since this afternoon. I know he’s busy, and I know he’s done this a hundred times before, but I hate not knowing if he’s okay.”

Omar reached for his drink, swirling the condensation on the glass. “We understand. His work is serious.”

Matty nodded. “Did you try calling him?”

“Yeah,” I admitted. “No answer.”

“That means nothing,” Omar said quickly. “He’s probably up a pole somewhere, covered in grease and being a badass.”

“God, that’s hot.” Matty waggled his eyebrows. “Maybe he could take you up in one of those bucket things. You could do it a hundred feet in the air.”

“That wouldn’t count for the Mile High Club, but maybe the Hundred Foot Club? The Bucket List? Ooh, I like that one. Double entendre for extra points!”

I snorted, shaking my head. “You two are the worst.”

“We do our best,” Omar said with a wink. Matty waved a napkin in the air like some drag queen with a boa.

I tried to smile, but the knot in my stomach wouldn’t loosen. I took a slow sip of my beer, forcing myself to focus as the next question was read out.

But I wasn’t really listening.

Instead, my eyes drifted up to the TV mounted in the corner of the bar.

And that’s when I caught the scrolling, crawling letters at the bottom..

BREAKING NEWS: LINEMEN INJURED IN ATLANTA STORM CLEANUP, STRUCK BY FALLING TREE. ONE STILL TRAPPED, OTHER TAKEN TO PIEDMONT HOSPITAL.

The bottom dropped out of my stomach.

My hand clenched around my phone as I scrambled for the volume button on the remote near our table. The bar’s noise made it hard to hear, but I could see the footage—rescue workers surrounding a man in lineman gear, lifting him onto a stretcher—the camera panning to another man whose torso was covered by a massive limb.

Other linemen surrounded him. Blue lights from police cruisers flashed. Then paramedics arrived.

The guy wasn’t moving.

I couldn’t see his face.

I couldn’t tell if it was Elliot.

My pulse pounded in my ears. I grabbed my phone and punched Elliot’s name.

It rang. And rang. And rang.

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