Page 17 of Finding His Fox

The idea of going back there had been at the back of my mind since last night’s party.

Ugh. There it was again. That weird feeling I had in my stomach every time I thought about my childhood.

I placed a hand over my abdomen and massaged the area lightly to ease the pain. It had been happening more often lately, especially in the past couple of days.

Although, come to think of it, this could also be the effects of drinking. Me and alcohol didn’t mix well.

One glass was enough for me to feel its side effects. My hangover this morning was a testament to that.

Bits and pieces of last night suddenly came rushing into my mind.

Oh God.

I grabbed my phone from under my pillow and checked for any outgoing messages or calls.

“OH MY GOD!” I exclaimed loudly, startling Max.

I scrolled through my phone and saw I had made several calls to Cal. Calls which I had no recollection of making.

The last call apparently lasted for almost a minute, which meant Cal picked up the phone.

My mind suddenly went into overdrive. What the heck did I call him for? What did I say? Did I do anything else?

The knot in my stomach tightened at the thought of doing or saying something I might have regretted.

I took a slow breath in, then out, trying to think of nice, peaceful thoughts.

Cats. A walk in the park. Breakfast. Cal. Nope, go back to cats!

Embarrassment be damned. Now that I was calmer, I realized I was overreacting. I was worried for no reason at all.

“I mean, I probably won’t see him again anytime soon, right?” I asked Max.

But what if I wanted to see more of him?

I bit my lip, thinking about how to apologize to Cal. Or better yet, how to find out exactly what I said to him. Because I certainly did want to see more of him.

On some level, it was a relief to be thinking about this instead of my big move to the house later.

Max jumped back on my lap and started licking his paws.

“I’m fine, don’t you worry about me,” I said.

Was I really fine? I was talking to my cat. To be fair, who didn’t talk to their pets from time to time?

However, I noticed I had been doing it more than usual lately.

I was thankful for the knock on my door, jolting me from my thoughts.

My brain was zipping dangerously back to my problem earlier, the idea of staying in my childhood house.

“Nate? Are you up? There’s someone here for you.” Josie's voice came through the door, slightly muffled but carrying a strangely cheery tone, as if she was smiling.

“Coming,” I called.

I grabbed my robe from the bedpost and checked my appearance by the dresser and thought better of it.

Why bother? It was probably just Ian, anyway. I mean, who else did I know in this town? I followed the voices down to the kitchen.