Wade reached for another card.
“Wait.” Jonah spoke without looking at any of us. His face had gone gray around the mouth. “Before you play more, there’s something I need to do.”
Elise released my hand. “Jonah?”
He took his phone from his pocket and held it so tightly I could see the tendons rise along his wrist. “I lied at the locker before. Not exactly lied. I said Dad sent me a voicemail after the divorce.”
“You played it,” I said. Hearing Randall’s voice from that message still sat inside me like a stone: Don’t let her come looking. She’ll choose me over herself.
Jonah nodded. “I played one.”
Wade lifted his head.
Jonah looked at him. “There were two.”
The unit seemed to constrict around us.
“The second came about six weeks later,” Jonah said. “I saw his name. I deleted the notification, but I didn’t delete the voicemail.” He swallowed. “I told myself I kept it because I might need proof of something. I don’t know what that means. Proof he was awful, maybe.”
