Page 45 of Hello Forever
Iwokeup the next morning with no headache. My relief lasted only until I sat down in my office and checked my email. There was a new message fromScotty.
Dad wanted to know who drove us home yesterday, so I told him your friend who worked at the basketball games. But after I said Axel’s name, Dad got all super ragey. I went in my room and didn’t come out until dinner, but he didn’t ask me anything more. What is hisdamage?
“Oh, fuck,” I whispered to myself. Axel was an unusual name. I should’ve realized that Scotty would repeat it and that my father might remember it from all thoseyearsago.
My head gave a throb. Fanfuckingtastic. I got up and pulled on my coat, walking immediately to Starbucks for a cappuccino with a shot of caramel in it. I did not have time formorepain.
The one-two punch of caffeine and sugar seemed to work. So when I sat down at my desk, I looked up the number for Axel’s office, and Icalledhim.
“Hey!” he said after I greeted him. “I was just thinking about you. Are you doingbetter?”
“Yes and no,” I said quietly. “My headache is gone, but my father is apparently on thewarpath.”
There was a silence on the other end of the line. “Shit. I’msorry.”
“I know you are.” I was so sick of the two of us apologizing to each other when it was the rest of the world that caused us the real trouble. “But I’ve got to…cut off contact for awhile.”
“I understand,” he said quickly. “Anythingyouneed.”
“It’s not that I think he’s reading my fucking email account, or anything. But I can’t stay away from you. I’m going to get myself introuble.”
“I get it. I didn’t before, but now I do. I…” He sighed into the phone. “If you ever need a hand, Cax, just call. Seriously. Even if it’s a year from now and I haven’t seen your face. You have a problem and I’mthere.”
My heart shimmied in my chest for two reasons. First, that I could go a year without him. And second, that he would say such a loving thing. “You kill me. You really do. I wish there was something Icoulddo…”
“Just take care of yourself, would you? Do thatforme.”
The lump in my throat was basketball-sized. “Youtoo.”
“Goodbye for now,” hewhispered.
“Goodbye,” I said, my voice breaking ontheword.
I hung up the phone, my throat burning. Before Axel came to Henning, I’d onlysuspectedthat my life sucked. Now I knew that ittrulydid.
ChapterSixteen
Axel
The next coupleof weeks after Cax’s phone call wererough.
I was lonely, and I missed emailing him. There were a few moments when I forgot to be lonely—when some funny thing on the Internet made me smile. And then I’d want to tell Caxaboutit.
Yep. Sadagain.
So I put all my energy into my job. The team went on that trip to Providence, and we won. And I mostly succeeded in not thinking about Cax, who was undoubtedly at his brother’s holiday concert like he said hewouldbe.
Then the holidays happened. I bought a ticket to Ohio and moped around my mother’s house for afewdays.
“Will you tell me what’s wrong?” she asked me one afternoon, running a hand through my hair as I sat at the kitchen table. “Aren’t they good to youatwork?”
I hadn’t planned to tell her. She slid a mug of cocoa and a plate of Christmas cookies toward me, lookingworried.
“They are perfectly good to me at work. But…do you remember CaxWilliams?”
She blinked. “Who couldforgethim?”
The whole story came tumbling out. Except for the sexy bits. I definitely skimmed right overthose.
