Beautiful Damage

Impulsive Behavior

The call started normal.

That was the problem.

Ashlyn sat on the edge of her bed with the phone pressed against her ear, watching the shadow of the ceiling fan drag slowly across the wall. The house had gone quiet in the way it only did after everyone decided to pretend things were fine. Downstairs a cabinet closed. Then another. Her mom moved through the kitchen like noise might keep the silence from settling too deep.

“You’re still at work?” she asked.

Toby said he was on break, the hollow clang of metal traveling through the phone and into her bedroom. Ashlyn rubbed her thumb along the edge of the phone and told him he sounded tired. The quiet stretched a second too long before she added that he hadn’t texted her today.

Toby reminded her he had texted that morning.

“That was at six,” she said.

“I was at work.”

Ashlyn blinked rapidly, trying not to ruin the makeup she had just finished. “I know. I just… can’t stop missing you. I need you here with me.”

She leaned back against the wall and stared at the slow rotation of the fan blades. “I hate this.”

“Babe, I can’t just leave my job and move in with you.”

“Why not?” Ashlyn pushed off the bed and began pacing. “You moved out of your parents’ house without a second thought, leaving me here.”

The distance between them settled into the call like another person listening.

“You send three texts a day,” she said. “I need more than that.”

“I’m working twelve-hour shifts,” Toby replied. “Why are you so angry?”

“I’m not mad.”

“You sound mad.”

Ashlyn pressed a hand to her forehead. “Why do you always do that?”

“Do what?”

“Turn everything into me attacking you.”

“I’m not doing that.”

“You literally just did.”

On the other end of the line Toby rubbed his face and said he was tired. Ashlyn snapped that she hadn’t asked him to be tired. Toby immediately said that wasn’t what he meant.

Ashlyn continued pacing slowly across the room.

“Then what did you mean?”

For a moment Toby didn’t answer. Ashlyn could hear the factory behind him again—metal scraping somewhere far away, forklifts beeping.

“I’m not disappearing,” Toby said finally.

“I know you’re working,” she said quietly. “It just feels like you are sometimes.”

“I moved so I could make money.”

“I know.”

“You keep saying that and then saying things like this.”

Ashlyn squeezed her eyes shut. “I f*****g miss you.”

The truth loosened something inside her chest. She sank back onto the bed.

“The house feels different now,” she said quietly. “Mara’s gone. My mom keeps asking questions. And you’re just… not here.”

Toby stayed silent for several seconds.

Then he asked, “Do you want me to quit?”

Ashlyn blinked. “What?”

“You want me to quit?”

“Of course not.”

“Then what do you want me to do?”

Ashlyn pressed her palm to her forehead. “I don’t know.”

“It feels like you want me to fix something I can’t fix.”

“I’m not asking you to fix anything.”

“Then what are we doing?”

“I’m just telling you how it feels. Alone in this house.”

Toby exhaled slowly. “It feels like I’m failing you.”

Ashlyn shook her head. “I didn’t say that.”

“You didn’t have to.”

Ashlyn closed her eyes. “Why are you making this bigger than it is?”

“Because it already is.”

“I just said I miss you.”

“And I just said I’m working.”

The conversation started circling again until the frustration slipped out before she could stop it.

“Maybe this was a mistake.”

The silence that followed pressed against the walls.

“What does that mean?” Toby asked.

Ashlyn immediately regretted it. “I don’t know. Maybe the distance is just too much.”

“Too much for who?”

“For us.”

Something shifted on the other end of the line.

“Hold on,” Toby said.

She frowned. “What?”

“Just hold on.”

“Toby—”

The call ended.

Ashlyn stared down at the phone while the ceiling fan spun slowly above her.

Thirty seconds passed.

Then the screen lit up again.

|| TOBY ;) ||

She answered immediately. “What are you doing?”

His breathing sounded different now.

“I quit.”

Ashlyn froze.

“You what?”

“I just quit my job.”

For a moment she thought she had misheard him. Toby said he walked back inside and told them he was done.

“Toby, you can’t just do that.”

“I already did.”

Ashlyn pushed a hand through her hair, panic rising. He didn’t have a job. He didn’t have a place to live.

Then Toby cut straight through it.

“I’m coming to Indiana.”

The words hit her like a shock.

“You’re what?”

“I’m coming there.”

“You can’t just move here.”

“I’ll figure it out.”

Ashlyn pressed a hand over her mouth. “This is insane.”

“I don’t care.”

“Toby…”

“I’m driving tonight.”

She stared at the wall as if it might explain what was happening.

“You’re crazy.”

“Probably.”

His voice softened slightly.

“But I’d rather be crazy there than miserable here.”

Ashlyn didn’t know what to say. Finally she whispered that he couldn’t just show up at her house.

“Watch me.”

“I’ll be there in twelve hours.”

The line went quiet.

---

The car rolled into the Harper driveway just after sunrise.

Ashlyn had barely slept. Her mom’s car sat in the driveway and the porch light still burned faintly in the morning gray. When the engine shut off the silence felt enormous.

For a moment neither of them moved.

Then Toby stepped out of the car.

Ashlyn opened the front door slowly. He looked exhausted—same hoodie, same shaved head, same stubborn expression.

“You actually did it,” she said.

“Yeah.”

Behind her, her mom stepped into the hallway.

“Toby?” she said, surprised.

Ashlyn didn’t answer right away.

Because Toby wasn’t just visiting.

He had crossed three states and burned his job behind him to get here.

Which meant one thing.

He wasn’t leaving.