Second Chances

Chapter 35

“Weird,” Alex muttered as he pressed the ‘end’ button and set his phone down on the desk. “Where the heck is Jesse?” he muttered as he replayed that afternoon in his mind.

After Alex and his coworkers watched as Jenny and Judy were arrested, placed in the back of police vehicles, and taken to the sheriff’s office, Peter Scribner had taken the entire office to lunch. Alex quickly sent a text to Jesse. ‘Have I got news for you. Going to lunch rn, I’ll call you after,’ it said. Alex thought that he would’ve received a text in response from Jesse, though one hadn’t come by the time Alex and his co-workers returned to the office. ‘Just busy with work, no doubt,’ he’d thought to himself.

Alex called Jesse’s mobile phone as soon as they returned to the office, but only got his voicemail message. Alex needed to buckle down and get some work done, if he was going to be heading to West Virginia in the morning, though, so he pushed sharing the news with Jesse to the back of his mind. He had to choose then book a flight, book a rental car, and make hotel reservations for his trip, not to mention attempting to conduct a little research on the property he’d be visiting the following day. There were several hours of prep work necessary before his trip Tuesday. It didn’t help that his co-workers all stopped into his office, one at a time, to welcome him back.

“Ha,” Alex said under his breath as the fourth co-worker left his office. “It doesn’t seem that I was missed at all,” he muttered to himself. Just then, Cooper knocked on the frame of Alex’s office door. ‘Here we go again,’ thought Alex.

Alex had wondered how Judy and Jenny had addressed his sudden absence, so he asked Cooper how his absence had been explained. “Well, first they said you were on an extended vacation, and your office door was kept closed. Then for some reason, Corey went into your office. He noticed right away that your personal things were missing from the office. Well, you know how nosey Corey is. He asked Kelly and me about it, and since we didn’t know, he went into Judy’s office and asked her. Corey said she hemmed and hawed a little bit before answering, saying you’d left the company. He thought that kind of odd that she never mentioned you leaving until she was asked about it. It makes a bit more sense now.” Alex found it amusing that Judy and Jenny didn’t have their story straight from the get-go.

“So, people actually recognized that I was gone?”

“Well, you are out of the office frequently, so it isn’t too weird to not see you for a couple weeks at a time,” replied Cooper. “But I did think it odd that you’d never mentioned taking an extended vacation. I mean, if I was going to the South Pacific, it’s all I would’ve talked about for several weeks prior.”

‘Wow, the South Pacific, eh?’ he thought to himself. ‘Maybe someday I’ll get there.’ Alex was simply happy to know that his absence had been noted.

Alex’s travel preparations filled every moment of the afternoon that wasn’t spent chatting with co-workers. As he was close to wrapping things up for the evening, he heard his mobile phone vibrate. Alex expected to see a text from Jesse, but the text was from Rhys instead.

‘Where R U guys? Thought we were meeting at the Y.’

Alex glanced at his watch, only to discover that it was already past 6:00 pm. He quickly replied, ‘working late. Yes, working – I am back at my job!!!’ He then added, ‘Sorry, didn’t realize it was so late. Going out of town tomorrow, so U won’t see me ‘til Thursday.’

Alex smiled as he set his phone back down. He attempted to return to work, but his phone buzzed again. Rhys replied, ‘Good news!’ A second buzz soon followed. It was another text from Rhys. ‘So, where’s Jesse?’

‘Shit,’ thought Alex. ‘He didn’t respond to my voicemail, did he?’ He quickly typed out a message back to Rhys. ‘He’s not with U?’

‘No,’ came back Rhys’s reply. ‘Left him a vm earlier but he didn’t respond.’

‘Same,’ Alex quickly responded, before adding, ‘He’s had a bunch of projects at work taking up his time. He’s probably still in the office. I’ll call him when I get home.’

‘K. Congrats on your return to work. Later.’

Alex smiled as he put down his phone. It was nice to hear congratulations from Rhys. Alex was so thrilled at being back to work.

‘I wonder where Jesse is, though?’ thought Alex, the smile disappearing from his face. ‘It’s not like him to fall off the grid.’

-----

“Jesse, please call me when you get this message. Love you. Bye.”

Once he’d pressed ‘end,’ he tossed his mobile phone on the bed. Alex was getting nervous that he hadn’t been able to reach Jesse all day long. At lunch, Alex had imagined that he and Jesse would meet Rhys and Ian at the Y, then have dinner together, and then Jesse and Alex would return to either Jesse’s apartment or the house and engage in some celebrating of their own. Alex tried to reach Jesse when he got in his car to return home, then when he got home, then when he’d packed his suitcase.

He stepped into the shower, thinking the water would be relaxing. The water seemed almost to have the opposite effect. His mind had been wandering all evening. Almost certainly Jesse was no longer at work. Yet he still wasn’t answering his phone. Where could Jesse be? As the evening wore on, the more and more Alex worried that Ryan had managed to reach Jesse. Managed to sweet talk his way back into Jesse’s life. Back into Jesse’s pants. Managed to convince Jesse that he, Ryan, the man who nearly destroyed Jesse once, should receive a second chance.

‘Jesse denied that would happen,’ Alex thought. ‘He assured me that I was his and he was mine. Assured me that Ryan couldn’t come between the two of us.’ The thought was of little comfort, however. ‘Where else could he be? If he isn’t with Ryan, why doesn’t he return my calls?’

Alex turned off the water, then pulled the shower curtain back.

“Shit!” he exclaimed when he discovered that he’d not taken a towel out of the linen closet before stepping into the shower. He gingerly stepped out of the tub, then quickly walked across the floor before opening the linen closet door. As he did, a stack of bath towels tumbled out of the closet and onto the floor. Alex sank to the floor, surrounded by no-longer-folded towels. He closed his eyes, trying to fight back tears. The answer was obvious. He hadn’t heard from Jesse all day long. There was one reason and one reason only why. Jesse was with Ryan.

“How could I be such a fool?” he muttered as his body began to air dry. “What would someone like Jesse ever see in me?” Alex glanced at the full-length mirror on the back of the bathroom door. I mean, look at me. I’m fat. I’m old. I’m gross and undesirable and pitiful and...I’m also an idiot!” Alex grabbed several of the towels and threw them at his reflection. He was unsure if his desire was to break the mirror so he wouldn’t see his own moronic face and disgusting body, but if that was the case, he’d failed miserably. The towels softly kissed the mirror, then fell harmlessly to the floor in a heap.

Once the towels fell to the floor, there he was again, a Jabba the Hutt look-alike. One more glance of his reflection was all it took for the dam to burst. He threw his upper body down to the floor, sobbing.

He was unsure how long he lay on the floor, but it was until he cried himself out. It was long enough for his hair to dry without the aid of a towel. Now, the only wet part of his body was his face, wet with his own tears.

He heard the front door open and close. He then heard Cameron yell, “hey, dad! I’m home!” Cameron was again working second shift. If he was home, that meant that it was after 10 pm. Crap! He had to be at the airport in what? A little more than six hours!

Alex then heard a rap on the door. “Hey, dad, you okay in there?” said Cameron.

Alex quickly sat up, brushing the tears from his face as he did so. “Yep,” he lied. “I’m just finishing up in here. I’ll be out in a couple.”

“Are you going away or something?” he heard Cameron ask. “I see your overnight bag is packed and sitting on the love seat.”

“Just give me a couple minutes and I’ll tell you all about it.”

“Great,” thought Alex. “I really didn’t want to have this conversation with Cam tonight. At least Charlotte isn’t home.”

Alex picked himself up off the cold ceramic tiles. He wrapped a towel around his waist, leaving the other towels scattered across the floor. He left the bathroom for his bedroom, where he tossed the towel into the hamper and pulled on a pair of boxer briefs and a t-shirt. Alex then headed down the stairs to the living room, where Cameron had just sat down with a sandwich and a bag of tortilla chips.

“Hey, Cam!” said Alex, forcing a smile to his face. “I got my job back today! And I’m going out of town tomorrow! I’m thrilled to be headed back to the grindstone!”

It didn’t take Cameron too long to see through his father’s bullshit. “That’s awesome news, dad, but there is also clearly something wrong. What is it?”

“Dammit!” thought Alex. “I’m not even a good actor.”

“What happened with Jesse?” said Cam. “That’s what it is, isn’t it?”

“Why would you assume that?”

“Dad, if you could see what shit you look like, you’d know. It’s something with either me, Charlotte, or Jesse. I’m here and just fine, so we can rule me out. If something was wrong with Charlotte, you’d have told me immediately. So, by process of elimination, there’s something wrong with Jesse, right?”

Damn it, when did Cameron get so smart?

Alex sat down in his recliner but remained silent. The two stared at one another for at least a minute, though Cam took several bites of his sandwich before he finally spoke. “You got your job back today, huh?”

Alex simply nodded.

“Do you want to tell me about it?”

Alex shook his head.

Cam took another bite of his sandwich. Once he’d swallowed, he spoke again. “Okay, so you’re going out of town for work then tomorrow?”

Again, Alex only nodded in reply.

“And now you’ve been struck mute?”

Alex neither shook nor nodded his head as Cameron stuffed the last of his sandwich into his mouth. After swallowing, he said, “Are you sure you should be travelling tomorrow? I mean, you look like hell, and you can’t even talk.”

“Well,” Alex responded, “it’s my first full day back at work, I sure as hell am not going to call in sick. Besides, it will give me something to focus my attention on.” After a brief silence, he added, “And see, I can talk.”

“So, you’re not going to tell me what’s going on with Jesse, then, eh?”

Alex reverted to answering silently, this time with a shake of his head.

After another brief silence, Cameron set his plate down on the seat next to him, then rose and walked over to Alex’s chair. Without speaking, he extended his hand towards his father. Alex reached up, then allowed himself to be pulled to standing. Cam enveloped his father in a hug. As they embraced, Cameron said, “Well, you’re an adult now, so I can’t tell you what you can and can’t do.” A slight smile crept across Alex’s face.

“I guess I can understand why you’d want to go to…where is it you’re going tomorrow?"

“West Virginia.”

“Okay, I understand why you’d want to go. But I really wish you’d talk to me about whatever is up with Jesse. I can’t help you if I don’t know the full story.”

“When did you become the father figure?” asked Alex.

“Well, someone has to be.”

Alex was quite certain that he wouldn’t be able to fall asleep. As he lay in the darkness, the same tortured thoughts tumbled through his mind, over and over and over again. However, he realized that he had fallen asleep when his alarm went off at 4:15 am. He was unsure of how long he’d managed to sleep, but the amount of time was somewhat irrelevant. There was nothing restful about what little sleep he managed to get.

His flight for Detroit, where he’d change planes, left on time. He attempted to sleep on the flight, though despite his exhaustion, sleep would not come. Feigning sleep, however, meant that he didn’t need to react to the older couple that he was seated next to. ‘Wow, there are still people older than me,’ he thought. The couple were retired and were flying to North Carolina to visit one of their four children, his wife and four of their grandchildren. He’d heard all of this before the cabin door had been shut. The woman was a real Chatty Kathy, he’d thought. He’d have faked sleep on this flight even if he'd not wanted to.

He had no trouble changing planes in Detroit; the departure gate for his flight to Pittsburgh was only a few gates away, and on time. .So far, so good with this trip,’ he thought. ‘When is my luck going to run out?’

After again attempting to sleep on the flight, and failing completely, he retrieved his rental car and began the three plus-hour drive to Charleston. He chose to fly into Pittsburgh largely due to the price. The flight to Columbus was more money and would’ve only shaved 45 minutes off the drive each way. And flying into Charleston, as well as Huntington, West Virginia, was ridiculously expensive. Normally, driving was something he enjoyed doing. But when Alex was as tired as he was, driving would be a chore.

Alex drove the short distance to the Summit Park Drive exit, where he knew a Piada Italian Street Food restaurant was located. He’d skipped breakfast that morning, and in faking (or attempting) sleep, he’d effectively passed on the choice between the itty-bitty bag of Sun Chips and the wee package of cookies served by Delta. Even though he was hungry, he didn’t particularly feel like eating. Piada felt like a disappointment, even though it was normally a favorite of Alex’s.

He tapped into his usual set of resources when driving, particularly driving while tired. He made sure he had a large diet coke to drink, and tunes cranked and ready to sing along to. As he headed south out of the Pittsburgh area, he had a niggling feeling that his trip was about to take a turn for the worse, just as his love life had. And, as Alex had thought, things quickly began to go wrong. There was a backup of several miles on Interstate 79 between Washington and Waynesburg, Pennsylvania, due to a multi-vehicle wreck in a construction zone.

“First world problems,” he muttered under his breath more than once as he sat in traffic that was moving all too slowly for his taste. “Just a first world problem, Alex. Hopefully, no one was seriously injured. I sure hope no construction workers were hurt.”

As he sat in traffic, Alex seemed to listen more to the lyrics than sing along with them. Perhaps it would’ve been better if he’d sung, as the lyrics were driving him further and further into despair.

As he inched ever closer to Waynesburg, he was startled when the music stopped, replaced with an incoming call. Alex glanced at the infotainment screen, hoping against hope that it was Jesse. It turned out to be Rhys. ‘At least it’s not a telemarketer,’ he thought as he accepted the call.

“Hi Rhys, how are you?”

“Hey Alex. You get to wherever it is you’re going?”

“Not exactly. I’m stuck in a huge traffic jam. The expressways in Pennsylvania are generally narrow, often without a shoulder to speak of. So, when there’s a car wreck, it doesn't take much for traffic to back up.”

“Say,” said Rhys, “have you managed to touch base with Jesse?”

Alex shook his head then, realizing that Rhys couldn’t see his response, quietly said, “no.”

“I’ve been trying to reach him today, too,” Rhys commented. “I’ve had no luck, either.”

“So, he’s giving us both the cold shoulder, eh?” asked Alex.

“Cold shoulder?” replied Rhys. “You don’t mean you guys had an argument, do you?”

“No,” Alex muttered softly. “Not per se.”

“What do you mean?”

“I can’t talk about it, Rhys.”

“What do you mean you can’t talk about it?”

“I just can’t, okay?”

“Can’t, or just don’t want to, Alex?”

“Well, technically both, I guess.”

“Alex, the way you’re talking is making me kind of nervous. Are you sure everything is okay?”

“No, Rhys, absolutely nothing is okay!” Alex bellowed. “Nothing! Not a single Goddamned thing! Is that what you wanted to hear? My life is going to hell in a fucking handbasket, okay? Is that what you wanted to hear, Rhys? Is it?”

After Alex’s sudden outburst, there was several seconds of silence, which Alex eventually broke. “I’m sorry, Rhys. I didn’t mean to scream at you. You don’t deserve that.”

Still shocked at Alex’s outburst, Rhys finally spoke. “Please, talk to me Alex. I’m really worried now.”

“I can’t. I just can’t, okay? There’s just some stuff going on with Jesse. I’m losing him, Rhys. But I can’t…can’t get…”

Rhys then heard Alex break down into what clearly were sobs. Rhys patiently waited for Alex to regain his composure, two full minutes where the only sounds were Alex’s muffled cries. Once the sounds of anguished crying appeared to have ceased, he finally spoke again. “Alex, I find it hard to believe that you’re losing Jesse. You two are made to be together, Alex.”

“That’s what I thought, too.”

“Well, Alex, I’m here when you do decide to talk to me. Just remember, I can’t help if you don’t talk to me first. So, please, when you’re ready to talk, call me. Any time, day or night. Okay?”

“Okay. I promise I will. Thank you, Rhys.”

Once they’d disconnected, Alex sat silently, staring forward. He felt embarrassed that he’d lost his cool with Rhys. “Why did I have to go off on him? He was only trying to help. I know he cares about us both.”

Alex thought more about his relationship with Rhys. Rhys had been there from the very beginning of Alex’s relationship with Jesse. He’d seen their interactions more than any of their other friends. He was the first to know about Alex and Jesse’s budding relationship. Perhaps, he reasoned, that he should talk more with Rhys about the entire situation. After all, Rhys had recognized that Jesse had skeletons in his closet, even before Alex had come onto the scene.

Shortly thereafter, the traffic which had been inching forward for nearly an hour suddenly began to move smoothly. ‘Thank goodness,’ thought Alex. ‘My bladder is getting full.’

Alex made it to Morgantown before he needed to stop to relieve his well-stretched bladder. Once he returned to the car, however, he again began to focus on the lyrics to the songs which were playing.

‘Why are lyrics so depressing?’ he thought. ‘Were they always like this? Or is it just the situation in which I find myself?’ On top of it all, that feeling that something else was about to go south crept over Alex once again.

At a little after 4:00 pm, Alex rolled into Charleston, the eerie feeling that something was amiss with his job still present. Alex followed the GPS directions to the convenience store property on West Washington Street. Except that when he arrived at the address, it was an apartment building.

Perhaps he had the incorrect address. He drove past the place the GPS had directed him, searching in vain for the phantom convenience store. Alex then turned around and drove the opposite way. He didn’t encounter the property he was expecting in either direction. “Shit,” he muttered.

Alex then pulled to the side of the street, placed his car in park, and grabbed his messenger bag. He began to dig through the bag, eventually finding what he was looking for – the paper file with all the pertinent information for the project. First, he compared the street address to the address that he’d put into the GPS. The street addresses matched. He glanced back through the project information, then saw where he’d made his mistake.

“Damn it all! Could this day get any worse?” he yelled to no one in particular. Here he was, on West Washington Street in Charleston, West Virginia. He should’ve gone to West Washington Street in Charles Town, West Virginia. “How could I have made such a stupid mistake?” he chided himself.

He pulled Apple Maps back up on his phone. Charleston and Charles Town were nearly 5 hours apart! Fuck!

‘Well,’ he thought, ‘it’s too late to change my hotel reservation. I’m going to check into my hotel and regroup. I’ll need to change my flight, obviously, because I won’t be back to Pittsburgh by tomorrow evening.’ Alex reconsulted Apple Maps. “Fuck!” he exclaimed. “Washington Reagan is only one hour and ten minutes’ drive from Charles Town! That’s the airport I should’ve flown to!”

Once Alex had checked into his hotel, he called Rhys, who, of course, was with Ian.

“Rhys, I just want to apologize to you again for my outburst earlier.”

“Alex,” replied Rhys, “there’s no need to apologize. I understand completely.”

Alex lay down on the bed in his room, his phone up to his ear. “You’re not going to believe what stupid thing I did today.” He then relayed the story of heading to the wrong city. Rhys and Ian chuckled at Alex’s predicament.

Though Alex had planned on sharing some of Jesse’s history with Rhys, he decided to withhold the information rather than share it with Ian. After all, Alex wasn’t thrilled with the idea of sharing any of Jesse’s story with Rhys. He felt he had no business sharing someone else’s story at all. He thanked Rhys once again for his help, and they agreed to talk again on the following day.

Once they’d disconnected, Alex decided to put on a little music. Before long, the depressing songs returned.

Next, Alex worked on re-booking his flight for the following day. He considered turning his auto rental into a one-way and returning home from Washington Reagan, but the cost would be prohibitive. Fortunately, he discovered that if he headed north into Pennsylvania from Charles Town and took the Pennsylvania Turnpike west to Pittsburgh, it would only be a three-and-a-half-hour drive. He went to dinner at the nearby Cook Out restaurant, then returned to spend forty minutes on hold while rebooking his flight.

Alex arose on Wednesday morning after a fitful night’s sleep. Despite the restlessness, he did feel more rested than the day before. He checked out of the hotel and began the long drive through the mountains of West Virginia. ‘Well, at least it will be a scenic drive,’ he thought to himself. Again, Alex found the music depressing.

Around 10:30, Alex received a call from Rhys. After exchanging pleasantries, Alex began to share Jesse’s story.

“Rhys, I really don’t feel particularly comfortable sharing this information with you, because it’s Jesse’s history, not mine. But at this point, I feel I need to give you some background. I’m only going to share as much information as necessary to fill you in.

“When Jesse and I went to Kansas before Christmas, I kind of ambushed his mom. I really felt I needed to know what was up with Jesse, so I didn’t hurt him all over again. I got most of the story from Jesse’s mom, though Jesse later added more information. There are really two components to his background, but I’m only going to tell you about one of them, and even then, only as much as necessary.

“After college, Jesse met a guy named Ryan. He was, I guess, a real smooth operator. He quickly managed to woo Jesse, and they moved in together. Ryan was extremely manipulative, and soon began to control Jesse like a puppet. This went on for years, Rhys. They lived together for a while, then Ryan went to Seattle for a six-month work assignment that turned into a 12- or 18-month assignment. Jesse stayed true to Ryan, but Ryan was anything but. They moved back in together when Ryan returned to Des Moines. They were together then, I guess, for another year or so. Jesse went to visit his mom and dad for a week, then when he returned to Des Moines, Ryan was gone. He had moved out without even saying goodbye. And then…Rhys? Are you still there?”

The connection between Rhys and Alex had dropped. “Damn mountains,” Alex said as he tried to reconnect with Rhys.

“Hey, Rhys? Yeah, I’m driving through the mountains, so I may lose you again. What was the last thing you heard?” Alex listened as Rhys gave a brief summary of what he’d heard before the call was dropped.

“Okay, so, Jesse returns to Des Moines to find out that Ryan had moved out without saying a thing to Jesse. He was just gone. Then, it turns out that Ryan was also taking advantage of Jesse monetarily, too. Jesse ended up getting evicted, then moving back to Kansas.”

“Okay, Alex, a sad…have to do with your situation?”

“Sorry, Rhys, you cut out there briefly. I think I got the drift of your question, though. Well, like I said, Ryan was able to manipulate Jesse to do whatever he wanted. Despite Ryan hurting Jesse so badly, Jesse told me that even after their history, after all that had happened, that if Ryan returned to his life, he was unsure he’d be able to resist his charms.”

“Oh, shit,” said Rhys. “And Ryan’s back, isn’t he?”

“Yep.”

“Okay, well that explains some…” The line suddenly went dead again.

“Rhys? Rhys? Are you there?” asked Alex. After hearing silence, he muttered, “Stupid, frickin’ mountains.”

Rhys rang Alex back a few minutes later. “Okay,” said Alex. “If we get cut off again, I’ll just call you this evening. But please don’t tell Ian or anyone else what I told you today about Jesse. I don’t really feel comfortable even telling you someone else’s story.”

“I won’t say a…Ian.”

“You cut out briefly again.”

“Before we get cut off again, I just wanted…called Jesse this morning. You should know that he just wasn’t answering your phone…he…picked up for me either. I think…stop at his apart…night.”

Once again, Alex and Rhys’ call was dropped.

The music from Alex’s phone began.

Once Alex reached Charles Town, he quickly located the convenience store he’d attempted to find in the wrong city the day previous. He was able to concentrate for a few hours on work, which was a welcome respite from the emotional toll that losing Jesse was taking on Alex’s psyche. Once the workday wrapped up and Alex checked into his hotel, however, the thoughts of dread returned with a vengeance. Again, he attempted to relax by taking a long, warm shower, but felt more keyed up after the shower than before. He thought about heading to dinner, but realized he really wasn’t terribly hungry. He’d only had a small bowl of cereal for breakfast, and had skipped lunch entirely, so he felt he needed to put something in his belly. He walked to the nearest restaurant, which happened to be a McDonald’s. He ended up throwing part of his meal out.

Thursday, Alex awoke, finished what he needed to do in Charles Town, then began the journey back to Pittsburgh International Airport. Again, Alex attempted to listen to music.

Alex was shaken from his depressing doldrums when he received an incoming call. Alex’s heart skipped a beat when he thought it might be Jesse. One look at the screen told him it was Andrew. He answered.

“Hey, Andrew.”

“Hi Alex. I’ve got Robbie here with me.”

Alex tried to make the conversation light, to deflect from his real mood.

“Hey, Robbie. And I’ve got…oh, wait a minute, I’m all alone.”

He was failing miserably, which both Andrew and Robbie noticed immediately. Though he couldn’t see the two, Alex knew instinctively that Andrew and Robbie had glanced at one another at that moment with looks of concern on their faces.

“Hey,” replied Andrew, “we talked to Rhys a bit ago, and we wanted to make sure that you’re doing okay.”

Alex continued in his effort to deflect. “Yeah, I’m gonna be okay.”

He then heard Robbie comment, “Alex, we really don’t fully understand what’s up, but you are not the only one unable to get hold of Jesse. He’s not returned our phone calls or responded to our texts, either. Rhys even drove over to his apartment last night, and his lights weren’t on, and he didn’t answer the door.”

“And,” Andrew added, “I guess Rhys even thought about calling 911 to do a wellness check, but decided against it when he noticed that Jesse’s car was missing.”

“So, what we’re trying to say, Alex,” said Robbie, “it’s not like he’s avoiding you. He’s avoiding everyone.”

“Guys,” replied Alex sadly, “I know where he is. Well, no, that’s not true. I know who he’s with. He’s with Ryan.”

“Is that Jesse’s ex?” asked Robbie.

Alex nodded in reply, then, realizing he couldn’t be seen, said, “Yeah, that’s his ex. Well, I guess, that’s his former ex. I’m his ex now, aren’t I?”

“Alex,” responded Andrew, “please don’t jump to conclusions. You do not know that for a fact.”

Robbie quickly added, “We can’t possibly believe he just ditched you. You two were made for each other. I don’t think you realize the love in his eyes when he looks at you. It may not be obvious to everyone, but it is to Andrew and me. You can literally see the love he has for you just when he looks at you.”

“I wish I could believe you,” replied Alex. After a brief silence, he continued, “His ex was a master manipulator, guys. He could get Jesse to do anything. And I’ve seen him, too. He’s hot. I mean, beautiful. You put those together, and guess what? There’s no way I could compete. He’s out of my league.”

“Alex,” Robbie said, “I am sure you’re wrong. The love Jesse has for you is obvious to see, so I don’t think you should give up hope just yet. When do you get back from your trip?”

“Tonight.”

“What time? Do you want us to stop in to see you? We can bring you dinner, or take you out to dinner, whatever you’d like.”

“Thanks, guys, I mean it. But I think I just want to be alone tonight.”

“I’m not sure that’s the best thing for you tonight, though,” commented Robbie. “We both love you, and we’re very worried about you.”

“I love you both, too. But I just want to be alone tonight. I’m sure I’ll be talking to you tomorrow. But right now, I need to go.”

“Alex, I think first we should…”

“No, guys. I’m coming up to a tunnel. I need to go because I’m going to lose cell service shortly.”

Alex hung up, just as he was entering the tunnel. The somber music just kept playing.

Later, Alex stopped at a gas station as he approached Pittsburgh to refuel his rental car before returning it at the airport. He’d taken his phone out of the car with him, then plugged it back in when he returned to his seat. He started the car, then noticed that he had two missed calls and two voice mails. They were from Jesse.

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