Page 15 of Puck Drop
“Now I am panicking a little,” she continues. “I think I made a rash decision. Just a phone call to you would’ve sufficed.”
I take a deep breath in and decide to be honest. “I panicked, too. Mostly for the same reasons you mentioned. Except for the one where you think I’m not happy to see you. I am so happy.”
Her shoulders sag in relief as if she’s been holding her breath this entire time. “I was worried you were upset with me.”
I shake my head firmly. “I am not upset with you at all.”
Her grip on my hand tightens, this time with a touch of warmth. “Thank God for that.”
She leans back into the couch, her tension obviously easing with each passing second. For the first time since we ran into each other earlier, I see a glimmer of calm in her eyes.
We sit in comfortable silence for a moment, our hands still entwined.
“I have so many questions about how you ended up here,” I tell her. “And we need to talk about a lot of other things, too.”
At first, her face freezes in a mask of worry. “You don’t want me here? I shouldn’t have assumed…”
“No,” I stop her. “I still…”
I am about to tell her that I still love her, which is not a lie. But maybe we jumped the gun before, and we should take it a lot slower this time around, depending on what her plans for the future are.
“Tell me how you ended up here,” I prompt her.
She nods, her eyes softening as she continues staring at me.
“I missed you so much.” Her voice is a tad shaky. “My father blocked your number with the phone carrier, so none of your calls to me would go through.” She pauses for a second. “Assuming you were calling…”
“Fuck yeah, I called.” The words burst from my lips. “And ever since I left, I’ve been torturing myself with the thought that maybe I didn’t try hard enough to get a hold of you.”
Elizabeth turns sideways on the couch. She lets go of my hand and places it on my thigh.
“He blocked me from calling you as well,” she says. “I was only getting your voicemail.”
I shake my head, amazed at the length her father went through to keep us apart.
“That’s fucked up.”
She laughs softly, the sound soothing my soul in ways I hadn’t realized I was missing.
“It is fucked up,” she agrees. “I can’t believe he did all that. I can’t believe he traded you. I cried so much when I heard.”
She presses both hands to her face in an effort to calm down.
“I was so angry, and we fought a lot. I cut all contact with him before moving here.”
My eyebrows raise in surprise at hearing that. But I am more shocked by the resolution in her voice. It’s as if she really means everything that she’s telling me. I don’t see what reason she’d have to lie to me about it.
“How did you get the job with the Aces?” I remember her going to school, but I thought it was for a degree in arts.
“My friend, Mona, helped me,” Elizabeth explains. “She and I took this course a couple of years ago, and I got certified to be a nutritionist.”
“That’s real?” The surprise in my voice is obvious, making her laugh.
“I should probably be offended that you think so little of me, but I surprised myself with that one, too. In fact, I had forgotten I even had that certification until Mona reminded me of it.”
I laugh with her, but I still have questions.
“So you just called the Aces, and they hired you? Just like that?”
