Mom bit her lip as her eyes danced nervously around the room like a couple of jumping beans.
“Mom?”
She closed her eyes and let out a big sigh. “I’m not supposed to tell you this, but I can’t let you sit there and think he’s just forgotten all about you. He texted me… this morning.”
Every nerve ending in my body tingled with a combination of fear and excitement. “What? When?”
“Earlier this morning. They got back into town late last night. It was brief and we didn’t get into anything about Zach, but he desperately wanted to know how you were and said he missed the girls.”
For the first time in nearly a week, my heart was filled with hope instead of utter soul-crushing sadness.
He texted. It wasn’t to me, but he texted. That must mean he still cares, right?
“What did you say?” I fought hard to swallow the huge lump in my throat.
“I said that you were miserable but hanging in there. I said that you were incredibly sorry, and I said that the girls missed their Brody, all three of you.” She reached over and squeezed my hand.
My heart raced so fast that I had to remind myself to slow down and take deep breaths. “Did he respond?”
“He just said he missed you guys too. I didn’t want to ask him a lot of questions or push him, so I left it at that.”
I took a full shaky breath. “Thank you,” I whispered to my mom, “for telling me. I know you weren’t supposed to, but I’m so glad you did. I might actually be able to sleep tonight for the first time in days.”
I kissed her on the cheek and hurried off to my room.
I threw myself on my bed and grabbed my cell phone.
Okay, Kacie. Calm down.
Brody texted my mom under the assumption that she would be discreet and not tell me. I couldn’t reward her for telling me by ratting her out, so I had to think really hard about what to say to him. I considered leaving it as is and going to bed, but given what I saw at his game and what he was probably going through right that second, I needed to reach out.
HEY. SAW YOUR GAME TONIGHT. I HOPE YOU’RE OKAY. PLEASE CALL ME. WE DON’T HAVE TO TALK ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED. I JUST NEED TO KNOW YOU’RE OKAY. I LOVE YOU.
I knew he wouldn’t respond; his game wasn’t over yet. Even if it was, I wasn’t confident that he would, but knowing that the game was still going on gave me an excuse to cling to. I curled up in bed and turned the light off.
My eyes snapped open to nothing but darkness. Everything was black, but I know I’d heard my phone beep. Squinting in the dark at the bright screen, I blinked several times, waiting for the text to come into focus. It was from an unknown number.
UNKNOWN: KACIE, IT’S VIPER. CALL ME ASAP. BRODY GOT ARRESTED.
My eyes still weren’t completely focused when I read his next text with the number. I dialed, pretty sure I got it right. It started ringing and I glanced at the clock on my nightstand. Just after three o’clock in the morning.
“Hello?” A gruff voice answered.
“Viper? It’s Kacie. What the hell is going on?”
“Dude. I don’t know.” He sounded out of breath. “He played like complete shit tonight, so I figured he’d want to go straight home and sleep it off, right? Well after the game, he tells me he wants to go blow off some steam at the bar. Fine. We’re sitting there having a drink; everything is great. I go to the bathroom, come back, and he’s in some fucking barroom brawl with like four guys. Next thing I know, the cops were there and he got cuffed.”
“Oh my God.”
“You have to come, Kacie. He’s fucking spiraling. I don’t know how to get through to him.”
“Text me the address of the station. I’m on my way.”
I threw a hoodie over my head, put my flip-flops on, and wrote my mom a quick note in case I wasn’t back in time to put the girls on the bus.
An hour and a half later, my hands were shaking as I circled the same city block for the eighth time, trying to find a parking space.
I finally found one and parallel parked like a pro for the first time in my entire life. I grabbed my phone from my purse and texted Viper.
I’M HERE. WHERE ARE YOU?
A loud knock on my driver’s side window nearly made me scream out loud.
“Jesus!” I yelled, glaring at Viper’s grinning face, which was pressed up against the glass. “You scared the shit out of me.”
He laughed. “I was sitting on the stairs. I watched you circle the block a million times, thought maybe Stevie Wonder was driving the car.”
“Not funny.” I rolled my eyes, trying not to laugh at him.
The crisp autumn air slapped me in the face as I hopped out of the Jeep. It was a little surreal that two hours before I was sound asleep in my bed at home, and now I was in a city police station to help bail my boyfriend out of jail.
“Okay.” I slammed my car door. “I’ve never bailed anyone out before. How does this work?”
“I already went in and talked to them. He’s in a holding cell in the basement.” He fell in step beside me as we made our way to the building. “We go in, pay the bail, and sign him out. Then I hold him down while you slap some sense into him.”
“I have an idea.” I narrowed my eyes at him. “Think any of those cops are hockey fans?”
After Viper turned on the athletic charm and promised to hang around signing autographs for awhile, a fresh-faced, nice officer led me downstairs to the holding area. There were two cells. The one on the right held a few passed-out frat boys who’d clearly had too much to drink, evidenced by the putrid smell of vomit that assaulted my nose as I walked by.
To my left was the other cell and in it, sitting on a cement bench, was Brody. He was leaning forward with his elbows resting on his knees, his head in his hands. I stood for a second, staring at the loose curls on top of his head. I was overcome with love for him and guilt for the part I’d played in his internal torment.
I took a deep breath and mustered up every ounce of courage I had. “Hey,” I said softly.
His head snapped up at the sound of my voice and his eyes widened when he saw me. Standing up quickly, he wiped his hands on his jeans and took a couple steps closer. “Kacie? What are you doing here? How did you know?”
A sympathetic smile tugged at my lips. “Viper texted me and I got here as fast as I could.”
“You didn’t have to drive all this way.” He shook his head back and forth slowly. “Viper could’ve gotten me out.”
“I know that, but this actually worked out better.” I crossed my arms across my chest.
He raised his eyebrows and looked around the cell. “It did?”
“Yep.” I took a step forward and wrapped my hands around the bars. “He’s upstairs entertaining the officers with strict instructions not to pay the bail until he gets the ‘all clear’ text from me.”
“Huh?”
“You can’t run from me in there. You can’t ignore my texts. You have no choice but to hear me out.”
A smile threatened to tug at his mouth. “Resourceful little thing, aren’t you?”
“Desperate times call for desperate measures.” I took a deep breath, exhaling slowly. “Brody, I love you. I love you so much. You walked into my life almost five months ago and have completely changed it. You’ve changed me for the better. You’ve made me relax—a little—and taught me to live life less timidly. Every once in awhile, though, the scared, over-analyzing girl in me still rears her ugly head and stands at the edge of that damn catastrophe cliff.”