Page 113 of The Last Man on Earth
And, clear as day, he says, “Of course.”
And something inside me breaks.
I put the phone down and start to cry.
My father sits up and grabs my phone, frowning at the screen, then at my mother. Without a word, he calls my sister back.
“Why would you send her that?” he demands.
I sniff, shaking my head. “It’s okay, Daddy.”
“No the hell it ain’t!” His lips curl. “Don’t do that shit again, hear?”
He tosses the phone on the cushion and sits down next to me, pulling me into his arms. That surprises me more than the video did. My stoic, reserved father pulling me close and letting me cry on into his chest. I haven’t done that in as long as I can remember.
“It’s gonna be okay,” he murmurs. “I promise.”
I nod against him, not trusting my own voice.
Maybe I’m being selfish, I don’t know. It’s like I don’t even trust myself anymore to understand my own feelings.
All I know is that this isn’t the ending I envisioned when I was on that island. I figured we’d be rescued, especially when I thought about giving birth. But this? This doesn’t feel like I was rescued at all.
It feels like I’ve been thrown into the sea without a life raft.
After dinner, I retreat to my bedroom and the comfort of my queen-sized bed. The mattress is insanely comfortable, like laying on a cloud. I’m not feeling the stark white walls around me, though. They’re begging for art. Makes me miss my condo. It looked exactly how I wanted it to look. It took years to get it just right.
And now I’ll probably never be able to live in it again.
My next door neighbor Julia texted me to tell me the media has been camped out there for days. Well, first she told me she was happy I was alive,thenshe started in about the inconvenience to the complex.
But I can’t think about that right now.
I stare at my phone, confused. Luca hasn’t called or texted. His last text was about dinner nine months ago.
I dial his number.
“Wow,” is his greeting. “I can’t believe it’s you.”
Frowning, I sit up so I can concentrate. I sense some fuckery afoot.
“Yep. I’m alive.”
It’s quiet, then he says, “You are.”
“Does that…mean anything to you?”
“I mean, yeah. Of course. I guess I just didn’t expect to hear from you.”
“Why would you think that?”
He chuckles softly. “You serious right now?”
“Yes. Before I left, we were dating, were we not?”
“We were,” he agrees. “So you can imagine my surprise when I read that you came back pregnant.”
My hand instinctively goes to my belly. “About that—“
