Chapter 6: One Question

At six in the morning I sat on the cold dorm steps with my phone in both hands and called him.

He picked up before the first ring finished.

"Abby."

"Hailey's here," I said.

The line went so quiet I checked that the call was still going.

"Here where?" he said.

"In Duluth. She's on the Bridge. Her dad gave the department money for the new lab."

"I didn't know that." His voice was low and very careful. "Abigail, I swear I didn't know."

"She asked me not to tell you."

"And you called me."

"I don't keep secrets from people I've known since I was four."

I heard him breathe out.

"Okay," he said. "Okay. Is she with you right now?"

"She's asleep in the other dorm."

"Don't tell her we talked."

"Why not?"

He didn't answer.

I had the whole speech ready. I had practiced it into my pillow.

"Here are my terms," I said. "Nothing from you until August. No calls, no texts, no tire swing pictures."

"Abby..."

"In August you bring whatever you've got. If it's real, I'll look at it."

"And if it isn't?"

"Then you let me go, and you never ask again."

"That's fair," he said.

It was so quick that I almost didn't believe it.

"That's it? Fair?"

"You asked for terms. They're fair." He cleared his throat. "Are you eating?"

"Goodbye, Caleb."

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