STORY BEHIND IT ALL
Mathilda’s POV
“No, I wouldn’t want to add to her health crisis. I’m not stupid,” he says.
“Although she called,” he adds, glancing briefly at me before returning his eyes to the road, “I told her you weren’t answering because you went on a work trip and the internet might have been faulty. I’ll let her know when you’re back.”
The knot in my chest dissolves completely.
The fear I didn’t know how to name, of her voice and her worrying, her melts away in an instant, I feel relieved so deeply it almost hurts. My eyes sting unexpectedly, heat gathering behind them, but I blink the feeling away, swallowing hard. Crying feels too close and I don’t trust myself to stop once I start.
I don’t know how I got so lucky to have him as my friend. I don’t know when it happened,
