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I blinked as Axel slid his phone in front of me.

“Put in your number,” he demanded.

“What?”

He huffed. “I said: put in your number.”

I picked up the phone, saw that it was unlocked, and on the ‘add contact’ screen. “Why?”

He let out a long, frustrated growl. “Just don’t laugh.”

“No promises.”

“Ass…” He sighed. “I delivered to the house with the moving truck today.”

“Ollie?” I asked.

I felt his eyes on me, though I didn’t tear my gaze away from his phone.

“Yeah. Did you deliver there too?”

“Today was the first time. What about it?”

There was a slight pause. “Did he seem ok when you were there?”

I blinked as I started tapping my name on his phone. “Seemed ok to me. Why?”

A longer pause, then his voice was serious enough that I turned to look at him.

“He was ok at first,” he explained. “Then, out of nowhere, he was pale and stumbling.”

“Shit. Was he ok?”

Axel nodded. “I waited several minutes, trying to decide if I needed to call a wellness check for him. I ended up contacting dispatch, and they followed up with a customer service call. They said he sounded fine.”

I sighed in relief. “Good.”

Another nod. “Yeah, but I don’t want to do that again. We’re usually close enough that I thought…”

He paused, but I understood what he meant.

“Maybe we can check for each other?”

“Yeah.”

“No problem.” I punched in my number and handed back his phone.

Axel grunted something that sounded like ‘thanks’, and a moment later, my phone buzzed in my pocket.

“That you?” I asked.

“Yeah.”

“I’ll add you to my contacts later.”

“‘K.”

Silence fell between us as he picked up his beer and took a long pull. Then the thunk as he set it on the bar again.

“You know I’m going to spam you with memes and dirty jokes now, right?” I teased.

“Oh, fuck you,” Axel huffed.

I laughed, then stared at my own beer. “It gets lonely out there sometimes, yeah? I mean… we talk to people all day, but it’s a minute here and a minute there.”

“Yeah.”

“I’ve never had a scare bad enough that I thought I’d need to call in police for a wellness check, but…” I paused and took a swig of beer. “I think this is the right call. We may work for rival companies, but can have each other’s backs. Make it feel… not so alone out there.”

“Yeah.”

I bumped Axel with my shoulder. “Gonna say anything other than ‘yeah?’”

“Nope.”

I laughed and had another swallow of beer. Then the silence fell, and a knot formed in my stomach. “What happened that scared you?”

Axel played with his beer bottle for a few seconds. “You know when you tease somebody that they look like they’ve seen a ghost? It was like that, but more intense.”

“More intense?”

He blew out a long breath. “One minute he was fine, then he was nearly white. Like every drop of blood had drained from his face. He stumbled back… startled… unable to keep his balance… I don’t know. I was worried that he was going to fall and hurt himself.”

“Shit. Then what?”

“I asked if he needed help, or if he wanted me to call someone. But he insisted he was fine and that I should return to my route.”

“And you still thought it was bad enough you might need someone else to check in on him?”

“Yeah.”

“Damn. Hope he’s ok.”

“Tammy said he sounded fine when she talked to him.”

“That’s good.”

“Yeah.”

Axel finished his beer and set the empty bottle on the bar. “I’m headed home.”

“You sure? You sound like you’re still rattled.”

“Yeah. See you tomorrow.”

“Sure, man. Tomorrow.”

I turned and watched as Axel left, then finished my beer and decided it was time to go home.

It was as I was lying in my bed—several hours later—that I remembered I needed to add Axel to my contacts. I unlocked my phone, opened the text, then—on a whim—I took a shirtless selfie.

I sent the pic to Axel. Something for your dreams.

I laughed when I received a middle finger emoji in return.

Package delivery was a lonely job, but that night was proof that Axel and I had each other.