Free Anticipation by Sarah Mayberry

thing with Leanne, but Raf didn’t need to know about that. Eddie was ashamed enough of his own thoughtlessness without having his brother bear witness to it.
    “She should have stayed with us,” Rafel said, shaking his head with disgust.
    “ Fuck you .” The words shot out of Eddie’s mouth like gunfire, harsh and vicious. No one cared about Blue more than he did. The idea that his brother thought he didn’t know how to look after her made him want to want to Hulk out.
    Rafel narrowed his eyes. Neither of them said anything for a long beat. It occurred to Eddie that he’d overreacted. Big time.
    “Sorry,” he said.
    He and Rafel might have differences of opinion, but they didn’t fight often and they certainly didn’t treat each other like crap.
    “You really don’t know why she left?”
    Again, Eddie thought about the situation with Leanne, but his gut told him Blue bailing on him was bigger than her being pissed with him because he was a careless asshole.
    “She said she needed space.”
    “From what? You?” Rafel looked as confused as Eddie felt.
    “She’s upset about something, but she didn’t want to talk to me, and it wasn’t as though I could make her stay.”
    “Right.” Raf looked worried as he thought it over. “You should come over for dinner.”
    Eddie almost smiled at his brother’s thinly-veiled attempt to offer him Maggie’s sympathetic shoulder. No doubt she’d say all the right things if he cared to try her, but he didn’t. Blue was the one he wanted to talk to.
    “I’m pretty busy this week,” he said.
    “You know where to find us if you change your mind.”
    “Thanks, man.”
    Raf disappeared into the hallway, and Eddie gave the workroom a final once-over. He didn’t have another client for an hour so he headed for the street, nodding to Hans, one of their front-of-house staff, on the way through the reception area. The Japanese restaurant across the road did a lunch special, and Eddie stood in line to place his order. The drink fridge was conveniently placed to inspire impulse purchases when people ordered, and he saw they had a new shipment of the crazy black sesame and honey soy drink that Blue was obsessed with.
    He pulled out his phone and took a quick snap of the chock-full refrigerator, then called up her name on his contacts list. He stopped before hitting Send, remembering this morning, suddenly uncertain whether she’d welcome a message from him right now, teasing or otherwise.
    The realization was a kick in the gut. Not once in ten years had he doubted his place in Blue’s world, or hers in his.
    Grim, he slid his phone into his pocket. She’d asked for space. The least he could do was give it to her.

    Eddie texted on her third day at the beach house, sending her a photograph of a freshly-inked tattoo. No words, just the picture of a single eye surrounded by mystical clouds, the skin still red from the needle.
    Blue admired the clean lines of his work, then turned her phone around and took a picture of the view, complete with her injured leg propped on a chair, framed by the dated seventies-era flower-power curtains that graced the Aldana family’s beach cottage.
    She hit Send, then allowed herself a small smile. He’d reached out in the best possible way, and it felt good that he cared enough to do so.
    The next day, he sent a picture of a greasy, delicious-looking burger that she recognized as being from her favorite burger place in Fitzroy. She returned fire with a shot of the hot chocolate crammed with marshmallows that Lena had made her.
    The day after that, it was a shot of the shiny alloy wheel of his Ferrari. She was taking a picture of her single battered moccasin slipper when Lena piped up.
    “Okay, I’ll bite. Who are you sending a picture of your slipper to?”
    “Eddie.”
    “Desperate to know about your footwear, is he?”
    “He sent me a photo of the wheel of his car.”
    Lena screwed up her nose. “You guys are weird.”
    Blue