Heartdriven: Too Driven To Drive

26. When A Stranger Calls

    Just arriving back inside the house, Sebastian turned on his phone and it was beeping like crazy. He smiled knowingly to Alice's curiosity, turned on the silence mode and placed it on the entry table for a moment so they could unpack. Her own phone didn't say much, and didn't manage to distract her from unpacking.
    Venting out the house with some open windows, it felt wonderful to back in her own home, even if she hadn't lived there long, it was hers. They had made it to Sebastian's sister to hand back the key for the cabin, and had dinner with her family, so it was a nice sunset outside when they had returned home.
    Sebastian sat in the couch with the view over the garden, as he begun going through his missed messages and calls, and Alice sat in the lounge chair opposite him, to go through her own. She had received an e-mail from someone she had never expected to hear from. "Hi Ally! Congrats on the wedding! Let's have lunch! xx Leah"... Leah was her past friend, well, roommate. They had known each other from the youth center and eventually decided to share an apartment, lasting a few years before Leah got a boyfriend that she wanted to live with... in their apartment. Alice didn't want to be in the way, moving out, since Leah was first named on their lease... leading to Alice taking the job in Formula One. She should probably feel grateful, Leah had pushed her on the anonymous dating party where she had met Sebastian. But she never told her about Sebastian, and the timing of her trying to rekindle their 'friendship' felt suspicious.
    "You remember I told you about Leah? My old roommate."
    "Yeah, sure," he barely looked up from his laptop.
    She walked over and showed him the e-mail, "She wants to have lunch with me."
    "You should go," still focusing on his missed work.
    Reading the message over again, she was less and less willing to, "No, I don't think I will. She never returned any of my calls or messages after I moved out. Why would she message me now, out of nowhere?"
    "You don't think...", he closed the laptop and finally gave her proper attention.
    "Yeah," sitting back in the chair and turning the phone screen down to stop herself from reading the message again, "She just wants to meet up with me because of you."
    "You are right, you shouldn't go then. You know her, I don't, and if you think this is something she would do—", she quickly interjected him, "It is something she would do," and let him continue, "Then you shouldn't go. You don't need people like that in your life."
    "I'm not even going to answer. But how did she find out? We haven't released a statement or anything yet."
    "Huh," he frowned and picked up his phone, "Now Britta's call makes sense. You remember?" She nodded, indeed remembering during their holiday in the cabin, Britta had called one of the days but Sebastian hung up, not wanting to talk anything about work. Alice didn't understand anything, they were speaking in German. He scrolled through and found a message from Britta, showing it to Alice. It was in German too, and her frown got deeper than his, trying to read it. "I only skimmed through it but now it makes sense. People were calling the team and asking, they wanted some quotes about something... I didn't understand what and didn't think about it further. But this message she sent... I think it got out," he looked at her worried, like she was going to freak out. But that part was over.
    "Okay. What do we do then? Do you want to release     a statement or give some quotes?", the thought actually didn't bother her as much as it would have before, she was having one of her good days. She hoped he could feel her confidence. His smile seemingly confirmed that.
    "I will just call Britta then, and talk to her about it. I think I am just going to confirm that we are married and that we would appreciate continued respect of our privacy?", he was searching her face for approval, and she had no problem giving it to him.
    She nodded a few times and gave him a double thumbs up as he left the room, and she went back to her messages. The e-mail from Leah wasn't the most worrying she had received. There was a missed call from an unregistered number a while back. She didn't have his number registered in her newer phone, but she recognised it immediately. It was Fernando.
    She sat waiting a bit, looking the numbers over, repeating it in her head to make sure she remembered it correctly. But she wasn't mistaken. Sebastian returned to the living room, and she stopped him before he could get back to his own messages. "Fernando called."
    "Right now?"
    "No, the other day, while we were in the cabin, when my phone was off. He called a few times," she showed him her phone again, "Should I call him back?"
    He took the phone and looked at the number, seemingly trying to confirm it was his, the same way she had done. Handing the phone back, he seemed as unbothered as she had been about the leak of their marriage. "Of course."
    "I don't know. He doesn't want to speak to me anymore." She felt like blowing this message off too.
    "Then it must be important. Just call him, Alice."
    She got up from the chair and walked to the window, looking out the garden and pressed his number. She couldn't look at Sebastian while talking to Fernando. She took a few deep breaths, but there wasn't much time left to collect her thoughts before the call was picked up. But there was no answer, just silence. She waited for him to say something, but her nerves got the better of her and interrupted the silence, "Fernando?"
    "Hello... Alice. How are you? I needed to talk to you and I couldn't get in contact with you, I almost... nevermind. You are well, yes?", he was going to quickly for her to pick up every word, but what appeared most clear to her, was his care for her wellbeing.
    "I'm fine. Is something wrong? Why—", she didn't get to finish her (obvious) question, before he got going again, desperate to get the words off his chest, "I was told William was back in town. I wanted to make sure you were alright."
    She looked back at Sebastian, who sat crouched over in the couch, trying to eavesdrop. She gave him an assuring smile and turned back to the garden. "I didn't know... I haven't seen him. We, uhm... we moved to another town."
    "Good. That's good. And you are well?", he had rushed so much, probably not even hearing her first confirmation.
    "Yes. I am well. Sebastian is with me. I am not alone," she wanted to stress that part, as it had mattered to Fernando that she was being taken care of... him previously offering that himself. "How are you, Fernando?"
    "Fine. I have to go. I just wanted to make sure you are safe. Bye." He hung up the phone before she got to say goodbye back.
    Standing for a moment by herself, she hesitated to delete the message of missed calls. It felt nice that he cared. She still cared about him, as a friend. But it was never more than that.
    "Everything alright?", the gentle voice came up behind her and touched her shoulder.
    She put the phone in her pocket. She was done reading messages for the evening. "Yes. I think so," turning to him and placing her hand affirmingly on his chest. It helt grounding to touch him. "He just wanted to check in, if I had heard anything from... from William." Sometimes it was too painful to say his name.
    "Do you want some of the chocolate chip cookies my sister gave us?", he had clearly felt her mood growing on her, and tried to change it.
    "No, thank you. I think I'm just going to bed now. It was a long drive. Try not to stay up too long yourself." She kissed his cheek and took a step but he held her back for a moment by her hand. "I'm fine, I just need to sleep."
    He let go and she went to the bedroom, sitting on the bed before tucking herself in. That one phonecall had suddenly drained her energy. It had come unexpected while she was still cheery from the honeymoon and now she was thinking about the beast... and Fernando. He didn't sound 'fine'. She wanted to wait for Sebastian to calm her concerns, but fell asleep before he decided to call it a day.

    Trying to focus on his messages, Sebastian's thoughts were with Alice in the other room. He had to hold himself back from stress eating on his sister's cookies. He had so many messages to catch up on, after ditching them for so long, what harm would one more day do? He packed away the cookies and closed his laptop. His phone lit up and the name on the screen made this call one he could not ignore.
    "Fernando?"
    "Alice told you I called, yes?"
    He kept his voice down, "Yes, before she went to bed earlier. I think she is sleeping now. Do you need to speak to her again?", not that he would wake her up for that.
    "No, I wanted to talk to you," catching Sebastian by surprise. Alonso rarely spoke to him willingly. "Did she tell you what we talked about?"
    "She said you asked about... William," he whispered the name, as if he expected Alice to be listening by the door.
    "He came back to your old town. I don't know why, I don't know if he was looking for her... but...", there was doubt in Alonso's voice but it didn't stop him from continuing.
    "What?"
    "Sebastian. Do you have a gun in the house?"
    "No."
    "Get one."
    And then he hung up.