Andy continued to stare at the piece of paper. Before he could chicken out, he picked up the phone and punched in Luke’s number.
It rang six, seven, eight times. Andy was about to hang up when, “Uh, hullo?” Luke’s voice sounded strained, weak. Andy immediately went on alert, his mouth also went dry. “Who’s there?”
“Um, Luke, it’s me. Andy.”
“Oh, uh, hi. I—”
Now he’d got his first words out, Andy found he couldn’t stop talking. “I hadn’t heard from you, and I got worried and Tom and Paddy told me that I ought to let you see what I was really like instead of being all quiet and—”
Luke laughed, but it sounded odd somehow. “It’s good to hear from you. Sorry, I didn’t call, but, uh—”
“What’s wrong? You don’t sound right.”
“I’m all right.”
Andy’s resolve was crumbling. Maybe he shouldn’
