Page 21 of Call Off the Dark

Hey, I had a great time last night. Sorry I’m texting. I wanted to see you again this weekend, but my grandma had a heart attack. She’s in the hospital in Portland and I just got down here. Looks like she’s going to be okay, but I’m staying with my mom for a couple days. It’s a little crazy right now. I’ll call you when I get back to Seattle.

The second text was from Saturday morning at 11:44 a.m.:

How’s it going?

“And here’s my call log.” He turned the screen toward her again so she could see the list of phone calls. “Mom. Mom. My sister. Mom and . . . Helen.”

The outgoing call to her was Saturday afternoon.

“I didn’t wait to call until I got back to Seattle,” Tyler said. “I called you from Portland . . .” He trailed off. He didn’t need to explain why.

“That’s weird.” Helen felt hopeful but still very much on guard. She’d spent the last few days assuming the worst and couldn’t fully shake that feeling. “Did you leave me a voicemail?”

“Yeah.” He looked at her, then back down at his phone.

“Is your grandma okay?” she asked.

“Yeah, they let her go home yesterday . . .” He was doing something on his phone again. “Do you have one of those generic greetings?”

Helen shook her head. She had a personalized greeting on her voicemail.

After a moment, Tyler showed her his screen. It was her name and phone number in his address book.

She smiled. “You transposed the six and the three.”

He smiled too, his entire body suddenly so relaxed it made it starkly evident just how tense he’d been only moments prior. Helen realized then she didn’t need to be on guard. There was nothing manipulative about this man.

Tyler shook his head slowly. “I’m sorry, Helen. I can’t believe I messed that up.” He edited her phone number in his address book and showed her the screen again.

“That’s correct now,” Helen said, and Tyler started to laugh. “Why are you laughing?” She already knew the answer because she felt the same way, but she wanted to hear him say it.

“Because I’m relieved.”

“So you like me?” she asked.

He tucked his phone back in his pocket and his hands moved to her waist and squeezed playfully. “Just a little bit.”

She put her arms around his neck. “I ran away when I saw you waiting at the elevator this morning.”

He leaned down to whisper in her ear. “I know. That’s why I was still standing there when you came back.”

She rose up on her toes to whisper in his ear. “I know.” Helen could feel Tyler’s chest tremble against hers as he tried to hold in his laugh. “I felt so stupid though,” she said. “I didn’t know what to say. I was rambling about the weather.”

They both started to laugh at the shared memory, clutching each other’s arms as they recounted it.

“This morning was salt in my wounds,” Tyler said. “I said to myself, if she starts telling me how many miles per hour the wind is, I’m skipping work. I’m done for the day.”

Helen protested, “You were the one telling me the exact forecast.”

“I just made up a forecast because the whole thing was so awkward. For something to be that awkward, I thought, either she really likes me, or she really hates me. I was afraid it was the second.”

“No,” she said. “It’s the first.”

Tyler kissed her softly, and everything felt sweet again.

After work, they went to happy hour. As they were sitting down at a round bar table with drinks and a basket of soft pretzels with cheese dip, Tyler asked her if she wanted to go to a concert with him that weekend.

“Who is it?” Helen asked, and he said the name of a band she didn’t recognize.