A Father's Love

Chapter 72

First call Luke made was to Rebecca to make sure Rachel still had the same number. He didn't want to end up calling and some random stranger answers. That was way too awkward, and Luke had enough to worry about than explaining to some random stranger he had the wrong number.

After a few rings, Luke got her voicemail and had to leave a message asking to call him back. Rebecca got back to him in under three hours.

"Sorry about missing your call. I was in the middle of a pedicure and the lady advises us to keep our phones turned off," she explained.

He casually shrugged. "No problem. I was just calling to ask if your sister has the same number or if she changed it."

"I haven't called her in a couple weeks, but I'm pretty sure it's still the same. Why?"

"Uh, no reason. Just wondering." Luke hoped Rebecca wouldn't press anything and the conversation could end there and they can hang up. Of course, everything else seemed to be going wrong. Why should this go in his favor, as well?

"So, you just suddenly, out of the blue, wonder if Rachel kept the same number after a year for no reason?" She questioned suspiciously. "You randomly wonder if people you forbid from your child's life, keep their same number or not?"

"Yeah, sure..." he shook his head, stopping himself. "I mean, no." Swallowing, Luke placed a hand on his side. "Rachel was just on my..." He caved. "Okay, I need to talk to her about something important. Okay? You happy now?"

"Talk to her about, what? About Shelby? Is everything alright? She's not sick, is she? She looked okay, two weeks ago when we came to see her soccer game, but I guess things can take a turn for the worse, overnight." Boy, can they ever!

"No, it's nothing like that. Something just came up that I need to discuss with her, that's all." Luke messed with his ear, nervously. Remembering what Rebecca had said about knowing this total mess with Rachel would eventually blow up in his face, he did not want to give the woman the satisfaction of being able to say, I told you so.

"Um, okay. She has yet to return any of my calls the past year, just a head's up. Frankly, I'm surprised she still has the same number, to be honest," Rebecca told him. "Each time we came to visit, I would share with Rachel afterwards so we could keep her up to date on how Shelby's been doing. So she knows about Shelby playing basketball and soccer, and how well she's been doing in school, and stuff like that. I told her about Shelby breaking her arm, too. So you won't have to fill her in on much if you get a hold of her."

Luke thanked her before he told Rebecca that he should go, needing to get back to work. Shortly after, they ended the call. He waited until that evening, after closing early, to give Rachel a call. Like her sister predicted, Rachel did not answer after the phone rang several times.

After the voicemail beeped, Luke left a brief message. "Hey, Rachel. It's, uh, Luke. You're probably surprised to hear from me. If you could call me back as soon as you can, that would be great because I feel I could possibly be murdered in my sleep if I don't get a hold of you in the next seventy-two hours. So... if you could call me back, that would be really great. Uh, thanks. Bye." With that nervous, awkward message said, Luke hung up the phone.

Luke then sat there in what felt like an empty apartment. He stared at the floor, still thinking about the night before. Shelby still hadn't come home yet. In fact, Rory had come by that afternoon to pick up an overnight bag for her.

On the positive side, Luke wasn't all alone. Gexie was still there.

Standing to his feet, he made his way over to check on the little gecko who was out of her hide. Luke looked down inside. "Looks like it's just you and me, Gexie," he told her.