SHAPES UNSPOKEN

-31-

HAPPY READING 🥰

Sean Britto

Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday pass quietly, broken only by a few short phone calls from Annabelle. With every brief conversation, the uneasy feeling growing inside me becomes harder to ignore.

I'm starting to think she's avoiding me.

Each day I wait for her call, hoping she'll say she wants to see me, but the conversations end quickly, and the distance between us feels larger than it should.

Didn't she miss me the way I miss her?

She's being elusive, and it's beginning to unsettle me.

At this point, I'm on the verge of showing up at her parents’ house, throwing her over my shoulder, and dragging her home with me.

She has ignited something inside me—something fierce and consuming—and only she has the power to calm it. But more than that, I can feel that something is wrong. Something is going on with her, and it's driving me crazy that she won't talk to me about it.

I sit at my desk, staring at a stack of paperwork I can barely focus on. My mind keeps running through every possible scenario.

A knock interrupts my thoughts.

“Come in,” I call.

The door opens, and Jinette steps inside.

“Hello. I was just visiting Brian, and I thought I’d drop by to bring Steph’s uniform from Friday.”

I lean back slightly in my chair.

“Thank you, Jinette. You didn’t have to do that. I could’ve stopped by.”

She smiles warmly.

“It’s okay, Sean. Steph is my godson. I don’t mind helping out. I love that little boy, you know.”

Her words soften something inside me.

“Thank you. That means a lot. You do so much for us.”

She sits in the chair across from my desk, and immediately I sense that she didn’t come here just to drop off Steph’s clothes.

She folds her hands together.

“Look, Sean. I haven’t said anything before about you and Annabelle’s relationship.”

I straighten slightly.

“Annabelle is like a sister to me,” she continues. “And I know her. She's in love with you… and it terrifies her.”

The words hang in the air between us.

I watch Jinette carefully, wondering what exactly she means.

“She went through a difficult time in college,” Jinette says softly. “And I don’t want her to be hurt like that again.”

I nod slowly.

“Jinette, I understand you care about her. I do too. I’m not going to hurt her. And if I ever do… it would never be intentional. Never.”

She points a finger at me, half serious.

“I’m holding you to that, Sean. She’s been through enough already.”

“You have my word.”

A quiet moment passes before I look at her more closely.

“So how are you? You look a little pale.”

She shrugs lightly.

“I have a doctor’s appointment in a few hours. I decided to drop by and surprise Brian before that.”