Page 120 of Ink Me Three Times
Can we talk? I need to tell you something.
Short. Bland. Dramatic only in the silent screaming underneath kind of way.
I stare at them for what might as well be an hour, thumb hovering over the send button. My stomach does a weird lurch every time I almost tap it. Like it’s threatening to mutiny if I actually go through with this today.
Pickle sighs dramatically from his spot curled up on my feet. I nudge him with my toe. “Don’t judge me, okay? I’m doing my best.”
He lets out a snort that smells faintly of old peanut butter and existential disappointment.Thanks for the support, buddy.
I don’t send the messages. Not yet. I just let them sit there, lined up, tiny time bombs in my chat history, ticking away at whatever dignity I have left.
I tuck my phone under my thigh, as if sitting on it will make the problem disappear, and lean back, closing my eyes for a second.
That’s when I hear it.
Jesse’s voice, sharp and echoing down the hallway. He’s on the phone, tone rising in that way that always means he’s about to say something reckless. I drag myself off the couch and creep down the hall, peeking around the doorframe.
He’s pacing the kitchen, barefoot in old basketball shorts, hair sticking up as if he’s been electrocuted. Phone on speaker. Mug clutched in his free hand, as a stress ball.
Freddie’s voice crackles out, low and tired. “I’m not asking you to fix it, Jesse. I’m just telling you. She’s here.”
My stomach drops straight into my socks.
Here. As in…?
Jesse runs a hand through his hair, making it worse. “What do you mean,here?”
“Coyote Glen,” Freddie declares, rough and broken around the edges. “She’s staying with a friend right now. But she isin town.”
I press my knuckles to my mouth, breathing through my nose so I don’t make a sound. Pickle waddles up behind me and sniffs my ankle, probably thinking this is a game. My heart is thudding so loud I’m worried they’ll hear it.
“And she wants to see Penny,” Freddie finishes, voice going even quieter at the end.
There’s a silence so thick I swear the whole cabin holds its breath.
Jesse lets out a bitter laugh, the kind that doesn’t sound amused at all. “Of course she fucking does.”
“She says she just wants to talk. To see her for an hour. Says she misses her.”
“Misses her?” Jesse practically spits the words out. “After four damn years?”
“Yeah,” Freddie says, and he sounds so tired I almost want to walk over there and hug him. Almost. “She’s her mom, Jesse.”
“Yeah,” Jesse mutters. “A mom who fucked off when shit got hard.”
Another silence. I can almost see Freddie pinching the bridge of his nose on the other end of the line.
“I don’t want her near Penny,” he says, voice cracking a little. “But I don’t want to be the asshole who keeps her away either.”
Jesse slams his mug down on the counter so hard I flinch. Coffee sloshes out onto his hand, but he doesn’t even react. “Freddie… just… don’t do anything until we talk, okay? Come by tomorrow.”
“Yeah,” Freddie exhales. “Yeah. I will.”
The call ends with a sad little beep. Jesse stands there staring at the countertop with betrayal shining in his eyes.
I back away from the doorway, Pickle following me, my brain buzzing so loud I can barely think straight.
My phone vibrates, the three unsent messages burning a hole into my skin.
