“We should do something for her. Like, maybe get her something so that when she comes home, she doesn’t get sad again.” Ava’s eyes lit up at the idea formed in her head.
Luke contemplated his daughter’s suggestion for a moment. “Like what?”
She tapped her little finger to her chin. “Um… let me think.” She said and he chuckled as he continued to drive. Her eyes widened and she grinned excitedly. “I’ve got it!! Let’s get her a puppy!”
Luke pressed down on the brakes as he approached a red light. “A puppy? You want to get Cara a puppy?”
“I think it’s perfect. She’ll be so surprised and no one is ever sad around puppies!” Her blue eyes found his in the mirror again. “Please daddy? Can we? Can we?” And then she said the magic words. “Don’t you want to make Cara happy?”
*
That night Cara was sitting on her bed, folding the last of her clothes that she needed to put into her suitcase, when she came across Luke’s sweatshirt. She smiled slightly as she folded it. She had worn that shirt more in the last month than he probably had since he bought it. She laid it on top of the rest of her clothes and decided to call him. She didn’t need the sheet of paper with the phone numbers anymore. She had only called one number almost every night. Well, except for when he told her the truth about what had happened between them. She shook those thoughts from her mind when she heard his voice come through the line.
“Hello?” Luke said into the phone sounding a little frazzled.
“Hi, did I call at a bad time?” She asked, noticing the change in his voice.
Luke ran around his bed, chasing after the beagle puppy that was wearing a T-shirt that read, “Born to Be Wild.”
“What? No, now is good.” He snapped his fingers at the dog that was eating his favorite pair of boots.
Cara narrowed her eyebrows as she listened to Luke rustle around on his end of the line. Her eyes widened when he groaned. “Um… you know what I’ll just see you tomorrow. I didn’t realize you weren’t alone.”
Luke pried his boot from the puppy, that wagged his tail happily waiting for Luke to throw the boot that’s sole was now flapping off. He looked down at his boot miserably before straightening his shoulders when he heard Cara.
“Wait, what did you say?”
“I said it’s obvious you’re not alone and I’ve interrupted. Go back to doing, whoever… I mean whatever you were doing. Shit!” She threw her head back in embarrassment and it thumped loudly against her headboard. “Ouch.”
Luke laughed into the phone and chucked his already mangled boot across the room for the puppy to attack. “Cara I’m alone. I was just distracted looking for something.” He fibbed with his eyes on the beagle that was wrecking his house. “How was your last day?”
“It was good. I finally found the courage to speak with the group. Oh, and I got this nifty little pin symbolizing that I’m thirty days clean.” She said as she fingered the silver pin she had pinned to her shirt.
“That’s great.” He said as he took a seat on the edge of his bed. “Are you looking forward to coming home?”
“Yeah, I’m just about finished packing. I packed my favorite sweatshirt and thought to call you. You’ll be here tomorrow to pick me up, right?”
“No, I was thinking I’d let you hitch a ride, since you robbed my favorite sweatshirt.” He said jokingly.
“Luke, robbed is such a harsh word. Why don’t we use borrowed instead?” She smiled as she relaxed against the pillows. She was going to miss these phone calls. “Yes, I think the word borrowed is so much nicer, don’t you?” She said teasing him.
“Fine, you borrowed my shirt. So you’re planning on giving it back?” He asked as he dropped his upper body against the plush mattress. He stared up at the ceiling as he waited for her to answer.
“Well, no I didn’t say that. I tell you what, I’ll make it up to you… I’m getting the hang of this amends thing.”
He closed his eyes briefly pushing out the thoughts of how he’d like her to make it up to him, out of his demented head. “Just keep it.” He said roughly.
“Ah, there’s that change in your voice again. Are you going to fall asleep on me, Luke?” She asked softly recognizing that gruff sound she became used to.
He let out a shaky breath and shook his head. If she only knew what her voice did to him. “No, I’m fine. “ He didn’t want her to hang up. If he was being completely honest, he didn’t want this conversation to ever end. For the last few weeks Luke had grown accustomed to having these moments with Cara all to himself. After tomorrow he’d have to share her with the rest of the world and he didn’t know how he felt about that. The idea of not being able to talk to her like this made him feel a little unsettled.
“Don’t hang up.” He muttered.
“Okay.” She whispered.
“I dropped Ava off at my mother’s for the night so I could leave first thing in the morning. I’ll probably be there by ten.”