"What? Who's dead?"
"Bobby Schwarzwald. Caveman. He killed himself. Shot himself in the chest."
I scream, scream with the pain, the shock that shoots through me. No! No, this can't be real! Not Bobby!
"Becky, calm down! It'll be okay, just calm down."
But I can't. Not right away. It takes me a few minutes of shaking and sobbing and I'm still dizzy with disbelief as I cling to his voice over the phone.
"Why? Did he... leave a note or anything?"
"I don't know. All I know is what happened. Look, do you have anyone nearby you can talk to?"
"No. I... It's a long story. Can... Can you come?"
He hesitates, a pause that slashes across my heart, ripping open the old wounds, but I'm in too much shock to notice it outside of the stinging.
"We'll be there on the next flight."
"No! Please, don't bring her! I can't face her right now! Not after..."
He sighs and I squeeze my eyes, trying to hold back the snuffles of another set of tears.
"Look, here's what I'll do. We're both coming, but I'll arrange it so that you don't see her until the funeral. I'm sorry, but that's all I can do."
"Thank you, Nick", I hiccup.
"I'll call you when our plane lands."
I drop the phone after we hang up, run to the bathroom and vomit in the toilet just before passing out on the cold, white floor.