She tried calling the office, but there was no answer.
Knowing that if he wasn’t at work at this late hour, he was probably at Amy’s, Donna was reluctant to call his cell phone. She had spoken with him numerous times while he was with his girlfriend and it always made her feel uncomfortable. There was something weird about conducting one of their usual bantering, flirtatious conversations while Amy was in the same room, even if it was across the telephone line. She wondered if Amy felt that way too. Josh seemed to be oblivious.
Finally, she decided to call him at home. If she was lucky, he would be there, alone. If not, she would leave a message for him on the machine. Her father was recovering well, and she needed to let Josh know her plans. She tried to tell herself that she wasn’t calling simply because she missed the sound of his voice.
**********
Josh dragged himself up the stairs and into his apartment. It was late – after 3am – and he was exhausted. But it was a happy type of exhausted, born from a lively evening spent with friends, and not tedious work or pointless arguing, as so many of his nights usually were.
As he walked through the living room, he noticed the message light blinking on his answering machine and wondered who could possibly have called. All his friends had been outside with him and it was unlikely that Amy would have called. Things between them had gone from bad to worse recently and he was pretty sure that their relationship was over.
He glanced again at the blinking light and debated whether to ignore it, but realized that it
could be important. When he hit the play button and heard Donna’s voice echoing
from the tape, he was glad he hadn’t.
“Josh, it’s me. I’m sorry I haven’t called you sooner. Things have been crazy here, but Dad’s a lot better now and I think I may be coming back to DC earlier than planned. I tried the office earlier, and I was hoping… Anyhow, I’ll try calling back another time.”
He had just finished listening to the message when the phone rang. Startled, he picked it up.
**********
“Lyman.”
“Josh?”
“Donna?”
She heard the surprise in his voice and wondered how her own voice sounded. “I thought you were at Amy’s.”
“If you thought I’d be at Amy’s, why didn’t you call my cell?”
There was an awkward silence as Donna tried to figure out how much to tell him. “I – I didn’t want to disturb you,” she finally confessed.
There was a snort of derision on the other end of the line.
“I don’t think you need to worry about that anymore.”
What? This was something new. She had only been gone for a little while. What could Josh have possibly done to ruin another relationship? “Why?”
“I think Amy and I are breaking up.”
“Oh, Josh, why?” Sympathy laced her voice.
“I had a talk with Toby tonight.”
Confused by the change in subject, she softly questioned, “Toby?”
“Yeah. He said a few things and… Anyhow, Amy and I are through.”
“I’m sorry.”
”Don’t be. It’s for the best. Maybe now I can work on the type of relationship
I really want.”
“Oh.” There didn’t seem to be much she could say to that. She was happy that Josh and Amy were finally breaking up, but at the same time she realized that any relationship Josh was in would exclude her. The thought made her sad.
Josh’s voice interrupted her musings. “I miss you.”
”I miss you, too.”
“Your message said your dad was getting better. So when are you coming home?”
Home. The word sounded right to Donna. Madison was her parents’ home, but it wasn’t hers. Home was where her friends were. Home was in DC.
“August 25th.”
“Can I pick you up?”
“I’d like that.”
”Ok.”
“Ok.”
There was another pause, as they both gathered their thoughts. Donna finally mustered her courage and said, “Josh, when I get back, we need to talk.”
“I know.”
”About Amy.” Silence. “About our lousy taste in gomers.” More silence. She took
a deep breath. “About us.”
“About us,” he repeated, a small note of trepidation and something else in his voice. He seemed to recover his voice and she heard him say again, “I miss you, Donnatella.”
“I miss you, Joshua.”
“Come home to me soon.”
“I will. Goodnight.”
”Goodnight.”
She hung up the phone feeling lighter than she had in months. She was going home – to Josh.
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