Chapter 7

After listening to the voice mails Ryan had left for me (most of which were hang-ups), I made a decision. Against my better judgment, I called him later that morning, but the call went straight to voice mail. I left a brief message, telling him that I’d received his messages and asking him to call me if he wanted to talk about what happened last night. He didn’t call back and I didn’t receive any additional correspondence from him that day.

I did, however, receive a call from Donovan Sunday morning. When the phone rang, I actually jumped because I feared (and kind of hoped) it was Ryan. Seeing that the call was from Donovan, I took a deep breath and exhaled before answering. Even though I tried my best to sound normal and downright cheerful, the first words out of Donovan’s mouth were, “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. Why?”

“You sound a little…I don’t know…weird.”