Page 22 of Should Our Hearts Catch Fire

Giving his desk a glance, Ellis shuts his laptop and puts all the papers back in their folders. Someone up there clearly doesn’t want him to get any work done. Why else would he be plagued with thoughts of Gabriel—a guy he barely knows—and then have his brother drop a bomb?

He grabs himself a can of gin and tonic from a 12-pack and settles on the sofa, his phone laid next to him in case Cal calls again. In the meantime, he might as well watch something. At least he’ll make use of thatNetflixsubscription he rarely uses.

His two most-watched shows come up when he opens the app. Deciding betweenGilmore GirlsandLucifer,he settles onGilmore Girls. He likes how it allows him to turn off his brain for a bit.

It doesn’t last. His phone rings not long after. Pressing pause on the TV, he picks up. “Cal?”

“How could you not tell me?” Cal hisses, sounding on the verge of tears.

“I didn’t know until recently,” Ellis starts to explain. “He told me the night of your accident—”

“Two months?! You’ve known for two months, and you let him stay with me?!”

“Hey!” Ellis snaps, standing up fast and accidently dropping the remote on the floor. “I told him not to do it. I told him I’d take care of it. Of you. But he was adamant.”

“So you just backed off?”

And Ellis bristles. He’s so fucking tired of being held responsible for other people’s messes. “I’m not his mother to order him around. He had enough of that from you.”

Once the words are out, silence hangs heavy between them. Guilt slams into him like a freight train, but he doesn’t take the words back. They might be insensitive, especially given Cal’s current predicament, but that doesn’t make them untrue.

“You should’ve fought him on this,” Cal persists, but he doesn’t sound angry anymore. Just resigned. Guilty.

Ellis swallows, dropping back down on the sofa. “You didn’t remember, Cal.”

“I could’ve still hurt him.”

“Have you?”

“Of course not!”

“Then let it go,” Ellis says gently. He’s hardly someone to go to for advice, but even he knows that nothing will come out of trying to change the past. “Go talk to him. Ask him what he wants. For once, let him decide for himself.”

Once again, Cal hangs up without a goodbye. Ellis can only hope he won’t do anything stupid. He makes a mental note to reach out to Dawson tomorrow if he doesn’t hear from Cal.

Well, this whole mess has one silver lining. He finally managed to stop thinking about Gabriel.

He picks up the remote from the floor and pressesplay.

Ellis should be listening to the presentation. He really should. Instead, he checks his phone for the third time in ten minutes. Still not a word from either Cal or Dawson.

“Ellis?”

He looks up at the sound of his name. He’s not sure who said it, but everyone’s attention is aimed at him.

“Yes?”

“Are you alright? Should we take a break?” That’s Steve, the head of finances, whose presentation Ellis has been ignoring.

“Yeah, sorry. You can—” His phone goes off, startling him. Relief and trepidation play table tennis in his stomach when he glimpses Cal’s name. He stands up abruptly. “Actually, I need to step out for a minute. Excuse me.” He disappears into the hallway, picking up as the door shuts behind him. “Cal?”

“Hey. I’m downstairs. Are you free?”

“Downstairs? As in here? In the building?”

“Yes.”

“Jesus,” he breathes, running a hand over his face. “Can you call next time?”