Out of habit, I scanned my messages before calling her. Two ignored ones from Gavin. Already. One from Hailey that I’d already responded to. An older one from Denny. He’d responded the next day after I’d drunkenly texted him. His message had been polite, yet funny. ‘Glad to hear it’s going well. I’m good, thanks, mate. Did you drunk-text me?’

Remembering the conversation made me laugh. My response to his text had been, ‘Maaaaaybe.’’

His response had been a laughing smiley face. I took that as a good sign that he also wanted some sort of friendship with me. I debated calling him, but Kiera was on my mind. And it was probably the crack of dawn where he was anyway.

Pressing the button to connect the call, I brought the phone to my ear. The sound of it ringing made me smile. The sound of the ring stopping made me grin. “Hello?”

Closing my eyes, I savored her sexy voice. “Hey, gorgeous…Guess where I woke up today?”

“I have no idea.”

The amusement in her voice made me laugh. And the fact that I also had no idea where we were. Not really. I knew where we’d been—Matt had told me at the last show—and I knew what direction we were heading, and I knew what I’d been staring at outside. From there, I took an educated guess. “Kansas…Know what’s in Kansas?” I playfully asked

“No,” she murmured.

“Nothing,” I told her, glancing at the monotonous vastness out the window. “Miles and miles of nothing.” I heard her laugh, and a sigh of longing left me. It was February now…it had been forever since I’d seen her. “God, I’ve missed your laugh. It’s just not the same over the phone, you know.” Without seeing the sparkle in her eye, the curve of her lips…without knowing I could lean over and kiss her…it was just all so…empty. Every part of me pined for her.

“I know…I’ve missed you too,” she said.

I loved that she felt the same, that our connection was still there. And I loved the ache I heard in her voice. It reminded me of my cruel tease on Christmas Eve. She still misses me. Not wanting to dwell on how much I missed her, how lonely I suddenly felt, how tired the heavy, unrelenting weight of all my secrets was making me, I redirected the conversation. “So, what have you been up to lately?”

She hesitated before saying anything. Why? Was something wrong? Maybe she was just thinking of something to say. It was kind of an all-encompassing question. “Uh…just work and school. Did I tell you I started my new quarter last month? I have a poetry class now.”