Samuel not answering. “I’ll be there first thing tomorrow,” he said. “Thank you.” A long exhale. “I’m sorry, Mr. Callahan. I really am.” He set the phone down on the kitchen table and sat with the evening going dark around him. The neighborhood settling into its ordinary nighttime sounds. Everything outside exactly the same as it had been an hour ago.
He picked up his phone one more time and looked at the photos from the wedding. Diane at the end of the aisle, turning to look at him. That moment he’d been replaying for days like it was something he could keep. He put the phone face down on the table and went to bed. Sleep came eventually, slow and thin, the kind that doesn’t quite do the job.