need you calling me constantly.”
The words hurt.
But by then, I was practiced at swallowing hurt.
“Okay,” I said quietly. “Love you.”
He didn’t answer.
I set my phone on the kitchen counter beside Sophie’s bottle.
Then I noticed the screen was still lit.
The call timer was running.
Elon hadn’t hung up.
I almost ended the call myself.
Then I heard a woman laugh.
My hand stopped.
The laugh was close.
Comfortable.
Intimate.
Then Elon spoke again.
Only now his voice was completely different.
Relaxed.
Warm.
The version of him I had not heard directed at me in a very long time.
“She’s driving me crazy,” he said. “Always asking when I’m coming home, sending baby pictures, checking up on me. I just want her to leave me alone.”
My fingers went cold around the phone.
The woman said something I couldn’t understand.
Elon laughed.
Then came the
