One Last Call Before Goodbye Chapter 11
Night deepened slowly, and the moon climbed above the branches.
Darlene lay in bed, tossing and turning as she thought about the things Marshall had said and those memories.
Her phone vibrated beside her pillow.
She picked it up and saw that it was a message from Marshall.
Marshall: “Lena, are you asleep?”
Darlene: “Not yet, but I’ll go to sleep soon.”
Marshall: “Are you thinking about what I said earlier today?”
Darlene: “Yeah.”
Marshall: “There’s a lot going on, and it’s all a mess. Can I call you and explain?”
Darlene paused for a moment and typed a single word: “Okay.”
As soon as she sent the message, her phone started vibrating.
She pressed the answer button and held the phone to her ear.
“Hello.”
Marshall’s voice sounded a bit anxious, yet carefully restrained: “Lena, I know you must have a lot of questions right now. I’ll explain everything, one by one.”
He explained everything to her in detail over the phone.
He told her how his mother found her, how she threatened her, how she endured her illness alone, how she pretended not to love him anymore, how she left five years later, and how he got into a car accident.
After listening, Darlene remained dazed for a long time.
She didn’t know when she hung up the phone; she just stared at the stars outside the window and gradually fell asleep.
That night, she had a dream.
Everything in the dream was exactly as Marshall had described, and just as she had imagined before.
She saw herself lying in a hospital bed, saw Louise’s eyes red from crying, and saw Marshall’s car accident.
“Ring ring ring—” The shrill alarm yanked her out of the dream.
Darlene opened her eyes, tears still clinging to the corners.
The room was decorated just as she remembered, and morning light shone through the window.
She couldn’t tell whether it had been a dream, or something Marshall had said—a past life that had really happened.
It took her a while to recover before she finally got out of bed.
When she opened the bedroom door, she saw Louise sitting in the living room.
“Louie, morning.”
Louise stood up and nodded toward the window: “Marshall is here.”
Darlene froze: “Huh? Where?”
Louise pointed at the window.
She walked over and peeked out—Marshall was standing downstairs, wearing the same dark coat from yesterday, holding a bag in his hand, looking up at her window.
The moment their eyes met, Darlene quickly pulled her head back.
Everything that happened yesterday felt surreal, and that dream was too real, too painful. She didn’t know how to face him.
Louise leaned against the wall, her tone indifferent: “Aren’t you going to see him? It looks like he waited downstairs all night.”
Darlene remembered the echoing emptiness on his end of the call last night—it turned out he had been downstairs.
She was silent for a few seconds, didn’t answer, and walked straight into the bathroom.
She turned on the faucet, and the icy water on her face barely managed to wake her up.
After washing up, she passed through the living room and stole a glance out the window—Marshall was no longer downstairs.
She let out a breath she didn’t know she’d been holding.
Back in her room, there were two new messages on her phone.
One was from Marshall, and one from Tabitha.
Darlene opened Marshall’s message first.
“I saw you. I know it’s hard for you to accept, it’s okay. I ordered you breakfast, it’ll be there soon. Eat well first.”
Almost as soon as she finished reading the message, the doorbell rang.
She opened the door, took a bag from the delivery guy, and brought it back to her room—it was hot chocolate and a bagel from her favorite bakery café.
Darlene took a photo and sent it to Marshall.
“Got it, thank you.”
She sat down and ate, bite by bite.
The hot chocolate tasted just like before, warm and comforting all the way to her stomach.
The hot chocolate tasted just like before, warm and comforting all the way to her stomach.
After finishing, she took a deep breath and opened Tabitha’s message.
“Eleven o’clock, Devoción Café, don’t forget.”