Chapter 17: The Number

I answered on the fourth ring, in the dark, with Gwen snoring through the wall.

"It's me," Calvin said. "I'm calling you. Any hour."

"I told you I wouldn't."

"I know. That's why I'm the one calling."

I sat up and pulled the blanket over my knees.

"What do you want, Calvin?"

"At midnight I resigned as trustee. A bank will finish moving the shares into your name."

His voice was rough.

"At twelve thirty I phoned the state bar. I told them about the kiss myself, before Russell's lawyer could."

"You did what?"

"It's my license, and it's now my complaint. The inquiry is about me. It does not touch your case or your name."

"They could take it."

"They could suspend me for a year."

He breathed out.

"I'd rather lose the year than hear you tell me in a corridor what I'm not allowed to do."

I pressed the phone against my ear.

"Nothing is contested between us anymore," he said. "Nothing is pending. I'm no one's lawyer in this but my own."

"Then why did you call?"

"Because you said I could wait for yours." He stopped. "I couldn't. I'm sorry. I've waited sixteen years, and I'm a very poor waiter."

I laughed before I could stop it.

"In sixteen years," he said, more quietly, "you never once called the number."

"You never said what it was for."

"I couldn't."

"I know." I closed my eyes. "I'd have called, Calvin, if you had said anything."

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