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I take it gingerly, glancing at him froiving me privacy, he eavesdrops unabashedly

“Put it on speaker,” he instructs, ignoring the cutting look I give him

Not wanting him to snatch the phone away, I do as he says

The call connects, and the ringtone sounds

My mom ansith an uncertain, “Hello?”

“Hi, Mom” It’s a battle to keep my voice normal “It’s Kate”

“Katie!” She sounds upbeat “This is a surprise I didn’t recognize this number”

“I’ from Alex’s phone”

I briefly

“Aren’t you at work?” Worry filters into her tone “Is so?”

“No” I force a s she’ll hear it in , I brace myself for the lie “Quite the contrary, in fact We’ve taken an impromptu vacation” I’ve never lied tonow “A trip to Russia”

“Russia?” she exclaims “Where in Russia?”

“St Petersburg,” I say brightly, trying to sound like an excited tourist “Alex has a house here”

He holds up a finger and shakes his head, indicating I shouldn’t say more

“What about your job?” Mom asks

I iine the confusion on her face “I really needed this vacation”

Her voice softens “Yes, honey You’re right You’ve been working too hard”

“If you needback an uninvited bout of tears “I didn’t activate roa look

He nods

“You can reach me on this number,” I continue

“All right,” she says slowly “But why doesn’t Alex activate the roa for you?”

The lies are piling up, drawing tighter around me in a web Flustered, I look at Alex, who faces me stoically My brain shuts down, unable to come up with a plausible explanation

“You don’t want calls from work,” Alex whispers