The following day, I went to the community center, trying to lose myself in the chaos of schedules and the chatter of kids. Yet my mind kept drifting back to him, to the scratch and his evasive answers.
Every ping of my phone made my heart jump, half expecting a message from him, hoping for a breakthrough in the silence that had grown between us.
By lunchtime, I gave in, dialing his number and listening to the rings echo between us.
“Hey, everything okay?” I asked when he picked up, trying to sound breezy.
“Yeah, just busy,” he replied, the words clipped, an edge to his voice that wasn’t there before.
“You sure? You seemed… off last night.”
There was a pause, a hesitation that stretched long enough to make me hold my breath.
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