Her heart jolted so hard it almost hurt.
She answered the phone almost immediately but her voice was barely steady. "Hello?"
There was silence on the other end for a moment followed by a soft exhale.
"Evelyn," Alexander said, quietly, almost like a sigh.
Her throat tightened painfully. He sounded worried, tired and strangely gentle, as if saying her name physically hurt him.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
Her eyes stung. "No, not really."
There was a pause where neither of them said anything.
"What happened?" He asked but his voice was threaded with tension.
"I don't know where to begin," she whispered. "Everything just feels so overwhelming."
Alexander was silent for a few seconds but she understood that silence from him wasn't distance, it was restraint.
"Evelyn, tell me what Mr. Carter told you," he asked but somewhere in his heart, he knew that answer.
