“…and if you’re still on the line you probably want to leave a message, so go ahead and do it at the beep. Ronnie, Steve, or Rhiannon will get back to you as soon as we can.”

BEEP.

“Hey.” Pause. “It’s Rhiannon and I’m okay, I’m all right, so Steve stop freaking out I can hear you doing it from here. Yeah. I um had some issues with my cell phone, and I haven’t been at home for the last couple of days…there’s a story and someday I’ll tell you it, or maybe I will, I don’t know yet. At any rate today is not that day. It’s just been…stuff. Stuff happening. Personal stuff. I called the brass and managed somehow to keep my job and I rescheduled most of my appointments for next week. But I’m okay. It’s okay. I appreciate it. I’ll catch up with you guys later. So…bye.”

The line disconnected. The dial tone hummed for a few seconds, loud in the empty lobby, and then that disconnected too.