When Love Walked Away novel · Chapter 8 of 24

Chapter 8: The Phone Face Down

The house on Calle Ocotillo was too quiet when Gabe drove me home at midnight.

He walked me to the blue door and waited while I found the key.

"I'll sleep on the couch," he said. "Or in the truck. You pick."

"The couch."

"Okay."

I did not turn on the lights.

Tilly's rain boots stood by the door, and her sandals lay where she had kicked them off on Wednesday.

Her cereal bowl was in the sink with one soft ring of milk dried in the bottom.

I stood in her doorway for a long time.

The bed was made, because I had made it, and the room smelled of strawberry shampoo.

At some point I sat down on the rug and stayed there.

I did not cry, which frightened me more than crying would have.

At 5:40 in the morning, Gabe appeared in the hall with two cups of coffee.

He sat down on the floor across from me, with his back against the dresser.

"You haven't slept," he said.

"I keep seeing the phone."

"Which phone?"

I took mine out of my pocket and laid it face down on the rug between us.

"That's how it was in the meeting," I said. "Face down, so it wouldn't bother anyone."

"Theresa."

"It rang four times. It buzzed on the table next to my notes."

"You turned it over at 1:12."

"Twenty minutes after the first call."

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