Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 91783 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 459(@200wpm)___ 367(@250wpm)___ 306(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91783 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 459(@200wpm)___ 367(@250wpm)___ 306(@300wpm)
“That last one,” Bex says. “Becky.”
“The one-way-love one.”
“That was Harley.”
I stop halfway into my coat. “You’re sure.”
“I have listened to that voice more times than I want to admit. New name, same woman. She figured out the screen catches her real one, so she gave us a fake and it cleared.” Bex doesn’t blink. “She’s not going to stop. She’s just gotten better at it.”
She opens the folder between us. It isn’t just Becky. Three other names, all in the same small, even handwriting, spread across the last few weeks. “I only caught it because she closed two of them with the exact same line,” she says, and turns one so I can read it. Pages of it, and it never once asks me for a thing. It talks about a future between us that’s already decided, a whole life she’s planned down to the details, waiting on me to show up for it.
I read for a while. I’ve gotten letters that scared me and letters that broke my heart. This one is different, and the difference is she isn’t upset. She isn’t angry that I don’t know she exists. She’s patient. Patient is worse than angry, and I don’t have a word for why.
“I thought she was done,” I say. It’s a stupid thing to say and I hear it on the way out.
“They’re never done.” Bex sets a hand flat on the folder. “I want to take this to somebody who can actually do something with it. Will you let me?”
“Yeah,” I tell her. “Do it.”
“Should I be worried?” I ask, and I hate the question the second it’s out, because asking it means I already am.
“I don’t know yet,” Bex says, which from her is as close to a yes as I’m going to get. “That’s why I want somebody who does. Don’t forget to tell your security team.”
Bex is it, there is no one else.
Josie and Katelyn are sharing a glass of wine when I come in. They congratulate me on the news, letting me know Paige broadcasted a message to my socials.
“National,” I say. She comes to me and wraps both arms around me. I hold on a moment longer than the news is worth. She feels it.
“You okay?”
“Long night.”
She doesn’t push. “Want something to soothe the worries?”
I nod. Katelyn finishes her wine and goes up to bed. Not before she tells me that Harrison passed out hours ago with Oliver in his toddler bed.
“We’re old,” I say.
Josie laughs as she put the kettle on. Tea for a good night, tea for a bad one. She brings two mugs over after the water has boiled and tells me to give the tea a minute. I do, mostly because it’s hot and I don’t want to burn my tongue.
But also, I need to tell the women in my life that I don’t like tea.
I don’t tell her about Becky. Worrying her makes things worse. I tell myself there’s nothing to tell yet, that Bex has it handled. I make a mental note to talk to Harrison about security and figure out what to do there.
Harley, Becky or whatever her real name is, is lonely. We’ve all been there and we’ve all made mistakes. This wouldn’t be the first time I’ve had a stalker, but also, I’ve never put myself out there like this before.
Most of that I believe.
The rest keeps me up a while after Josie’s asleep, thinking about how many strangers are about to know the sound of my voice, and how one of them has already decided it means she knows me.
TWENTY-SIX
The cold comes in hard the week after the national news. Frost on the inside of the windows by morning, the county road slick going into town, everybody at Ralph’s talking about the weather like it’s the only thing that’s ever happened to anybody.
Harrison and Katelyn love the house they found online. He confirmed they can have a wave pool in the backyard, heated. They spend most of their time with five grandbabies, giving Peyton and Elle time to Christmas shop. And there was the day when Harrison and I babysat while everyone went shopping. It was either that or go to the mall.
Harrison has also taken to coming to the studio mid-show, with a tray full of coffee, enough for everyone. He sits there and watches the live feed through the camera, laughing at comments and sometimes responding via the 4225 West social account. According to Paige, this drives the fans wild.
Our listeners have tripled in the last week. Paige convinced Ben to put billboards up, announcing the show in certain cities. Where she came up with the idea, I’ll never know. I don’t know if it’s working or not but she and Bex say our numbers are climbing.
Josie and I are cleaning up after dinner when my phone rings. A local number I don’t know. I almost don’t answer it but my gut tells me I need to.