Call her

You sit on your bed for a couple of minutes after your mother leaves. You run through the options. You know that you can't continue your life without her. If the dream was any indication you would be somewhat miserable, and Doe would be a battered wife within a year. It's not what you want. You wish you could have realized sooner that she loved you as more than a friend. Instead you had the 'friend blinders' on and never even tried anything. Never even saw it. Sure you had hoped that you and Doe would end up together, but you had also cut your loses when she had announced her wedding to you three months before.

And as for your father's conviction that Hank was a control freak, you had to admit that the couple times that you had met the man he was always clutching Doe's hand. As though proclaiming his ownership of Doe. It had annoyed you to no end.

You nod as you make a decision. You get up and walk to where your phone sat charging, and quickly pressed Doe's speed dial option, which happened to be the number two. Voicemail was programed as number one and that was factory inputed, or else Doe would have been number one.

Doe picks up right away, "John! I've been trying to reach you for the last week! What happened?" Her voice sounded like she had been crying.

"I...I had to sort through some things. I'm sorry. I..."

"It's okay. Look I have to go and meet Hank for something very important. Now what I have to meet with him for depends on something. Will you accompany me?"