One in a Million (Book 3 in the Four of Us Trilogy)

30 | Counting on Forever

This can't be happening to me

This is just a dream

-Carrie Underwood, "Just a Dream"

Tallahassee, Florida

Rachel

I woke up on Tuesday morning, excited about the scheduled Skype call with Miles. He didn't usually call until around noon Central time, but I was up and sitting in front of my laptop by 10:00 am. I wrote some of my essay for School Law, browsed BuzzFeed and Facebook, and watched a couple of episodes of The Office.

Noon rolled around, and I stared at the blank computer screen for the entire hour. When 1:00 came and went, I lay back on the bed and thought about the possibilities. I forced my mind to stay away from the worst case scenario; Miles probably just got stuck at the job site longer than usual.

But when the afternoon slid away into evening, and the clock passed 9:00 pm, I became a little frantic.

And what killed me is that there was nothing I could do. It wasn't like I could go see when he was last active on Facebook or Instagram. I couldn't call his work to see if he was still there.

I paced around the bedroom for a few minutes until I heard a voice over my shoulder.

"Rachel? What are you doing?" Parker asked from the doorway. I spun around, and I must've looked stricken because his face contorted with concern. "Hey, Rach," he said, his voice softer. "Is everything okay?"

I shook my head. "I – I don't know. Miles was supposed to Skype me today; he usually calls by noon, but I haven't heard from him all day. These calls are planned for like a month in advance. It's not like him to just blow it off." I knew I sounded frantic, but I couldn't seem to calm down.

He stepped toward me cautiously and laid a hand on my shoulder. "Rachel, breathe. I am sure everything is just fine. He probably just got caught up in something or maybe the connections are bad. I'm sure he'll surprise you and call tomorrow."

I considered this. I hadn't thought of bad connection; maybe that's all it was. I took a deep breath. "You're right. Thanks, Parker," I said, smiling. "Have you guys eaten dinner?"

He shook his head. "We were about to go get pizza. You want to come with?"

I nodded. "Sure. Just let me get dressed."

He smiled and disappeared out the door, closing it behind him.

I put on some leggings and a long-sleeved t-shirt, sliding my feet into my Birkenstocks. Maybe Miles would call while we were out; I could always answer on my iPhone. And getting out of the apartment would make time go by faster.

We went to eat pizza, get ice cream, and shopping at Target.

He never called.

***

The next morning when I woke up, I called Jane. Sometime during the night, I woke up with the thought that maybe he had called them first and used all his time.

"Rachel!" she greeted me cheerily. "How are you?"

"I'm doing fine," I lied, my voice trembling. "I just wondered if you'd talked to Miles."

"No, honey, we haven't. I know yesterday was Skype day, but when we didn't hear from him, we figured he got caught up talking to you and used all his time," she said, a gentle laugh in her voice.