With a hint of a smile in his voice, he enlightened her.

“You haven’t told me your son’s name yet.”

Ariana hit her palm on her forehead in a resounding slap. How in the world had she not given him his name? “Sorry, it completely slipped my mind. His name’s Max,” she quickly told Holden.

“Got it, Max, it is. I’ll make sure to keep that in my memory,”

Holden quipped with a light chuckle.

“Send me your number. I’ll give him a ring tomorrow.”

“Thank you so much.” A sigh of relief escaped Ariana’s lips. She could finally release the tension that had been furrowing her brow.

A moment of acknowledgment passed between them before the line went off.

Lowering her phone, Ariana found herself entranced, caught between the eerie resemblance of that voice to Theodore’s and the warmth of Holden’s tenor. The haunting similarity left her in a daze. It wasn’t until after she had dispatched her contact details to him that her tumultuous thoughts started to dissipate.

A N G E L A ‘s L I B R A R Y

the edge of the couch, Ariana couldn’t help but unlock her phone again, her compulsion driving her to pore over the man’s sparse social media presence time and time again. She hunted fruitlessly for any

nothing but an outline of a life shrouded in ambiguity. She exhaled disappointedly, her hand falling limp in her lap, her thoughts drifting to the brief

out her very core. Was she so desperate and delusional that she

plush cushions of the couch, Ariana took a slow, deep breath in an attempt to calm her tumultuous mind. She scrolled through the man’s profile once more, but it revealed nothing

unearth about Theodore from this enigmatic

locked her phone and shuffled off to bed, the images of those vacant social media pages trailing

more like a shadow of his

as she coaxed, “I’m certain Daddy

his lips puckered with doubt, silently

returned to listlessly turning

a weight of guilt as she gazed at her sad

anxious gaze was constantly drawn back to her silent phone. She had

screen. Her heart leaped

Sonia’s exuberant voice that greeted her, bubbling over with

well, you sound

special someone’s call, I

Ariana couldn’t help but laugh, a sound tinged

using an unfamiliar

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