Earth to Malllllory?” Sarah waves her hand in front of my face. “Hey there, welcome back. I’m off again. Josh is waiting down in the car for me.” She hugs me tightly and I go through the motions, but sit quietly in shock as she carries on. “You have fun with your man and I’ll see you tomorrow.” I nod, barely looking at her, still too caught up in the phone call, the threat, I just got from Evan’s mother. “Okay, bye,” I mumble. When she opens the door, I hear Evan, which snaps me to the present. I was hoping for a few minutes to collect my thoughts, but I’m not that lucky. “Hey, don’t rush off on my account.” I hear them speaking in the other room. I wipe at my eyes, where tears were starting to form. Sarah’s voice carries. “No, no. I was leaving already. You two have a good time. Hopefully I’ll see you later.” “Thanks again for helping me surprise Mallory.” I can hear the smile in his voice. He’s genuine and honest and I weaken just a bit. “Is she here?”
