“No, I don’t expect you do. Why are you calling me now with this?”
“Because he thought you deserved to hear it. I know you hadn’t spoken in a long while before he passed, but the man I know—knew, was different than the man you remember. He learned kindness.”
“That doesn’t sound like Wallace at all.”
“I know,” Hugo said. “But people can change when faced with eternity.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It is what it is.”
She sounded uncertain when she said, “You knew him.”
“Yes.”
“Really knew him.”
“Yes.”
“And he told you what happened with us.”
“He did.”
“So you just decided to call me out of the blue, out of the goodness of your heart.”
“Yes.”
“Look. Hugo, was it? I don’t know what you’re gunning for here, but I don’t—”
“Nothing. I want nothing. All I wanted to do was tell you that you mattered to him. Even when all was said and done, you mattered.”
She didn’t respond.
“That’s it,” Hugo said. “That’s all I needed to say. I apologize for interrupting your evening. Thank you for—”
“You cared for him.”
Hugo startled. He glanced at Wallace before looking away. “I do.”
“Friends,” she said, almost amused. “Just friends?”
“Hang up!” Wallace said frantically. “Oh my god, hang up the phone!” He tried to swipe at it, but Hugo was quicker, plucking it off the counter and holding it out of reach.
“Just friends,” Hugo said, hurrying around the counter to keep Wallace from the phone. Wallace snarled at him, prepared to do what he had to in order to make this fresh hell end as quickly as possible.
“Are you sure? Because—and I can’t believe I know this—you sound like the kind of guy he’d go for. He didn’t think I noticed, but he would swoon whenever—”
“I don’t swoon!” Wallace bellowed.
“Really?” Hugo said into the phone. “Swoon, you say?”
“Yes. It was embarrassing. There was this one friend of mine—kind of talked like you, the same cadence—who Wallace would fawn over. He would deny it, of course, but I wouldn’t be surprised if that was the case with you.”
“I have the worst ideas,” Wallace muttered. “Everything is terrible.”
“Good to know,” Hugo said to Naomi. “But no, we were just friends.”
“Doesn’t matter now though, does it?” Naomi asked. “Because he’s gone.”
Wallace stopped, hands pressed flat against the counter. He bowed his head and squeezed his eyes shut.
“I don’t know that he truly is,” Hugo said finally. “I think a part of him remains.”
“Pretty thoughts, and nothing more. Did…” She huffed out a breath. “Did you love him? God, I can’t believe I’m having this conversation. I don’t know you. I don’t even care if you and he were—”
“We weren’t,” Hugo said simply.
“That doesn’t answer my question.”
“I know,” he said, and Wallace felt hot and cold, all at the same time. “I don’t know how to answer that question.”
“Yes or no. It’s not hard. But you not saying no is all the answer I need.” She sniffled again. “You weren’t at the funeral.”
“I didn’t know.”
“It was … quick. For him. I’m told he didn’t suffer. There and gone as if he never were at all.”
“But he was,” Hugo said, and he never looked away from Wallace. “He was.”
She laughed, though it sounded like a sob. “He was, wasn’t he? For better or worse, he was. Hugo, I don’t know who you are. I don’t know how you knew Wallace, and I don’t believe for a minute it was because of tea. I’m … sorry. For your loss. Thank you, but please don’t call me again. I’m ready to move on. I have moved on. I don’t know what else to say.”
“You don’t need to say anything else,” Hugo said. “I appreciate your time.”
The phone beeped as she disconnected the call.
Silence filled the tea shop.
Wallace broke. “You can’t … Hugo.”
“I know,” Hugo said, sounding strangely vulnerable. Wallace looked up to see him fiddling with his bandana, green with white dogs imprinted on it. “But it’s mine. It’s for me. And you can’t take that away.”
“I’m not trying to,” Wallace snapped. “It’s—you’re…” His chest hitched. The hook felt molten hot. “You’re making it harder. Please don’t do this to me. I can’t stand it. I just can’t.”
“Why?” Hugo asked. “What’s so bad about it?”
“Because I’m dead!” Wallace shouted.
He left Hugo standing in the main room of the tea shop, the shadows stretching further.
CHAPTER
20
The next day was hard.
Wallace brooded, pacing back and forth like a caged animal. The others gave him a wide berth as he muttered, “Two days. Two more days.”
He shuddered. He shook. He quaked.
And there was nothing he could do to stop it.
He looked out the front window.
There, parked in front of the tea shop as it always was, sat Hugo’s scooter. Pea green with whitewall tires. A side mirror with a little trinket hanging from it, a cartoon ghost with a little word bubble that read BOO! The seat was small, but there were metal handlebars on the back.
He remembered the way the sun had felt on him as he’d stood on the back deck. Again. Again. He needed to feel it again. Such a small thing, but the more he thought about it, the more he couldn’t shake it. The sun. He wanted to feel the sun. It was calling to him, the hook in his chest vibrating, the cable brighter now than it’d been before. Whispers caressed his ears, but it wasn’t like the voices from the door. Those were soothing and calm. This felt urgent.
He went to Mei in the kitchen. She eyed him warily as if she expected him to bite her head off. He felt guilty. “Can you watch the shop this afternoon?”
She nodded slowly. “I guess. Why?”
“I need to get out of here.”
She looked alarmed. “What? Wallace, you know what’ll happen if you try to—”
“I know. But I won’t go far. I know how long I lasted the first time. I can handle it.”
She wasn’t convinced. “You can’t take that risk. Not when you’re so close to…” She didn’t need to finish. They both knew what she meant.
He laughed wildly. “If not now, when? Oh, and I’m taking Hugo with me.”
Mei blinked. “Taking him with you where?”
He grinned. He felt crazed, and it burned within him. “I don’t know. Isn’t it wonderful?”
* * *
Hugo listened as Wallace explained. He didn’t answer right away, and Wallace thought he was going to refuse. Finally, he said, “Are you sure?”