This is the second bit. This drove me nuts to write. The text message traffic in the tale caused me to sit for a couple of hours with a cell phone trying to work the messages so they'd fit on one of these little screens. It was worse because I wanted these two to sign their texts, so that left even less space.
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That afternoon, Emma went into work early and booked some of her vacation and sick days that she hadn’t used. Her supervisor agreed that she was looking pretty worn out, and agreed to the request. Emma had some time, so she walked to the travel agency and talked to them for a while. She thought about what she was doing and wondered if she was obsessed. She smiled as the answer came to her that she must be. She was saddened on the way home later as she thought of the likelihood that Cale would rebuff her, but decided that if she didn’t try, then she must not be worth him, and that helped her to resolve a lot.

Cale was a bit thankful that the owners of this place had reopened the kitchen for him. It was a lucky break since he'd come off the road later than he'd planned. As Cale ate his late evening meal, he heard his cell go off. It was the same number, and he also had a text message. He put the phone in his pocket, not daring to check the messages here. When he got back to his room, he called his brother and chatted for a bit. Josh noticed something in his tone, but let it slide, figuring that Cale was just road-weary, and glad that he was finally on his way. After he hung up, Cale tried to ignore the thought of his phone, but finally listened.

“Hi Cale. I don’t know where you are, but I worry for you. I guess I’d better get used to not knowing, huh? I’d like you to do something for me when you get back – if you ever get back. Please change your will again, and leave everything to your brother. I sure don’t deserve what you did for me. That would be something that the man at the homestead would have done for his woman. But that woman would have been worth it. She’d never have hurt him. I like to think that you’re really that man. I don’t think of myself as the woman anymore because of...because of what I did to you. I hurt so much, Cale. I can’t even imagine how you must feel. I don’t even know if you ‘ll hear this. I’m still your friend, or I’d like to be. I’d like to be your anything, Cale. I love you.”

He almost went looking for a liquor store right then, but just sat on the floor and cried. He’d saved the messages. He hoped his kid brother could come up with a way to copy them. Listening to them tore his heart out, but he loved to hear her voice. He checked the text message.

“Please text me to let me know you’re alright. Please?”

He thought about that for a long time. He thought that he’d just reply : “No.” But he thought that it might hurt her. As ripped up as he was, Cale didn’t blame Emma. Finally, he just sent: “I don’t hate you, Em. I understand why you did it.”

He was in bed and about to turn off the light when his phone chirped. He sighed, and read it.

“Ur wrong. Gender means nothing. Love is love, cheating is cheating, stupid is stupid. I’m so sorry I hurt you. Stupid Em”

He hadn’t even thought of a reply when it went off again.

“You’re the best person I ever knew, the best lover I ever had. My best friend.”

Oh God, he thought, she’s killing me long distance now. He tried to shut off his phone, but Emma was quicker: “Sleep & ride safe. I love you so much, I sleep in your sweater. Em”

Hundreds of miles away, Emma smiled for the first time in days as she closed her eyes. But her phone chirped.

“The will stays. Cale” He’d shut off his phone as soon as the message went.

The next morning at breakfast, Cale was astounded to read: “NO! If I’m executor & you die (please, please don’t!) I’ll give to Josh anyway. Em”

The next read: “I don’t ever want to argue with you. Luv, Em”

And another: “Please say I’m still your friend. Em”

Cale rode on through the top of Texas, wondering. Now he was hurt and confused. Just peachy. But he found that he was beginning to actually see the scenery now instead of a narrow band of road, so Emma must be helping him. He thought about his old sweater. Well it had served him well over the years, it deserved to be next to those little beauties, he thought with a grin. He was hauling ass today, hell bent for someplace. The clouds opened up on him, but he didn’t much care. He’d gotten his rain gear on, and was motoring. But he still had the emptiness inside him. At least Emma wasn’t hurting so much, he hoped.

One more day, he figured as he ate. He pulled out his phone and sent: “You’re still my friend.”

He allowed himself the small luxury of a four pack of vodka coolers that evening. The TV was on in his room, but he ignored it. He'd turned it on just to hear people's voices. Without that, all that he had was the feeling of a mournful wind. His phone clamored for attention.

“I’m very happy I haven’t ruined that, but have to tell you something.”

He looked at it, what the hell now? It chirped again.

“Very sorry again I hurt u. Words don’t work. Will do anything 2 make it better. Anything.”

Cale actually chuckled. The confined space of a text message screen was causing her to sound stilted to him. Another chirp.

“I mean that. My chest aches for you now. All of me hurts. All my fault. Gnite. Em”

That one made him hurt in several ways. He replied: “I’m hurt bad. Keep my sweater. Why do you wear it?”

Her reply was almost instant: “Smells like u. I sleep better. Where r u?”

He didn’t suppose it made any difference now: “Near Tucumcari, NM, going west”

The next one shocked the hell out of him, and they were coming fast.

“Don’t want your money or your house. Need only you with me.”

“Need you alive & in my arms. Give me 1 chance, I’ll never let you down again.”

“Luv u 4evr Cale, till I die. Nevr stop. If u can evr luv me again, pls say. I NEED my Cale back!”

He stared at the little screen, wishing she could fit more on it. It chirped again, and he almost dropped the phone.

“I promise I’ll never hurt you again. Please, please marry me! Don’t ansr now. Gnite.”

Emma sighed. At least he was communicating with her now. All she could do was hope. But at least she felt a bit better. She’d never thought of telling anyone what she’d just sent before, but for Cale, that was just how she felt, and she'd felt that way from the start.

Cale sat with tears streaming down his face. He knew that if he had a brain, he ought to call her right now and tell her he'd be turning around in the morning to come back to her. It was what he wanted to do more than anything. What she'd done was secondary in the bigger picture. That picture was clear to him now. He needed Emma like he needed air, but his pain told him that there'd be no reprieve this time. He wasn't worth anyone's love. How much more proof did he need? He'd given his heart twice now, but this time, the tape and glue weren't working anymore.

He stared at each of the messages. He believed her, but now he just didn’t have much of himself left to give anyone. He didn’t have enough to run the machine that was Cale anymore. He was pretty sure that his island was shrinking under his feet, and wondered what would happen when it disappeared. He only knew that he had to get to see Josh. After that ... he had no clue, really. All that he knew was that he was so dog-tired of this ache that he’d had for most of his life. It had been gone while he was with Emma, but now it was back with a vengeance. He just wanted it to stop. Emma’s messages made him hurt too, but they almost made it feel pleasant compared to what was growing in him.

When Emma awoke, she grabbed her phone, hoping. What she read made her bury her face in her pillow.

“I believe you. I can't anymore, nothing left in me.”
“Don’t know anything. Hurts so bad. I’m just empty inside now.”

Emma made herself some coffee, and thought desperately of some option that she had, something that she could do for him. While she was waiting for the kettle, she grabbed her phone and sent: “Cale, just come back to me! I promise 2 make everything better. I want to spend my life with you!”

Then she sent: “I’ll do anything I can to make ur hurt go away. Please Cale, come back 2 me. I love you so much. Em”

She poured her coffee into a travel mug, and got dressed. She turned on her PC, and looking at the emails that she’d swiped from Cale’s house, she composed one to his brother.

Dear Josh & Kayla,
My name is Emma Hawke. I was involved with Cale for a while, but now I’ve lost him. Please read this. Cale is in some sort of trouble. We were together, but I did something very stupid, and I hurt him badly. I’d give anything to make it go away, but that’s not possible. Right now, I’m far more concerned about him.

I know that he’s on his way to see you. I’ve been trying to text him, and the last two days he’s answered me, but there’s something wrong – more than you’d expect, anyway. He’s hurt very badly, I’ve never known him like this.

When he arrives, please take care of him. Talk to him a lot, and see if he’s the same Cale that you remember. I could be wrong, and I pray that I am, but you decide. You can tell him that I wrote to you, but I’d prefer that you didn’t. Please suit yourself.

I’m coming to Santa Fe. I will come to your home. You can listen to me or you can send me packing, but I have to make sure that Cale is alright. We are still friends, Cale and I. At least he said that in a text message. I wish we could go back to before but ... I’ll be on the red-eye from Toronto in two days, and I’ll find my own way to you. Please make sure your brother is ok. If you tell me that he’s fine, I’ll accept that and leave. My cell number is ...

Emma looked it over and thought that Josh would probably think she was nuts, but she’d done what she could, so she sent it, and began to pack.

An hour later, Kayla Taylor read her email and ran out to get her husband. “What do you think?” she asked him.

Josh scratched his head, “If Cale had never mentioned her, I’d think she was just some jilted woman with a screw loose maybe. But I know he thought the world of her – and I’m using the past tense because of what she’s written, and we’ve seen her work. I don’t think she’s a flake. I’m going to call her. Maybe I can get enough from talking to her to see what it’s about or tell her to piss up a rope, if I have to.”

Emma lunged at her phone when it rang. “Hello?”

“Emma? This is Josh Taylor. How are you?”

Emma sighed with relief, “I’m running around like an idiot, but that’s normal for me, just more today. You must have read my message then.”

“Yes. By the way, I’ve seen your work. You’ve got a lot of talent to make my brother look that good. Emma, what did you mean when you said that you think something’s wrong with Cale?”

“Um, ok, you’ve seen my work. The shot with the single tear drop on his cheek, if you can recall it. That was taken the day that I met him. He didn’t know I took that shot, we hadn’t met yet. He was sad and lonely, like you can see in the picture.”

“Ok,” Josh said, “That’s odd, but ...”

“Josh,“ she interrupted, “Does your brother always cry for no reason? This is Cale we’re talking about here. That’s what he was doing then. That’s why I took his picture.”

“No, I’ve never seen Cale cry before. Ok, so then what?“ He looked at Kayla, who was listening in on an extension.

“Well, then we got to know each other, and that look disappeared. I guessed that with my friendship, he wasn’t feeling lonely. Anyway, we became lovers. That was a little messed up, because ... "

There was silence from the other end, “Hello?”

“We’re still here,“ Josh said, “By the way, my wife Kayla is on the extension.”

Emma said hello to her, and then forged ahead, “I don’t know if you can understand it, but Cale was always hopeful of my love, even though he knew that I only liked women. He was always kind to me and helped with my photos, and we drifted together about six months ago. His ideas gave me some of my best work. Finally, I just stopped fighting it and I fell in love with him, and he’s been the love of my life since then, and nobody was more surprised than I was, but we made it work. I didn’t know that he even had a brother until a few days ago.”

She went on to tell them of everything that had happened, taking full responsibility for it all, and then she read them all of the text messages. “So, even taking into account the way that text messaging screws up people’s conversations, this is not the Cale that I know, and believe me, I know him. We’ve spent as much time together as our schedules allow, and if we weren’t joined at the hip, we were joined at the pelvis. Skin to skin was too far apart for us. Neither of us had ever experienced something like that before.”

Emma heard Kayla chuckle, “Welcome to the wonderful world of loving a Taylor, Emma. I know just what you mean.”

“Anyway," Emma continued, “to be clinical about this, you need to know that I deeply regret what I did, even as I did it, and before I knew that he had seen it. I’d give my life for him if he needed it, and I’ll admit that I’d do anything to have him back, but I don’t think that he’d ever have me again – and I don’t blame him. But I’m very concerned for him right now. That’s why I emailed you. You can judge better since you’ll see him soon. He was in Tucumcari last night. I suppose that now that we’ve talked, I don’t really need to go there, but I’d still like to see him if I could. I love him very much, Josh. I need him, and I know he needs me, but there's something wrong, and he's shutting down from everything, and I don't just mean me because I'd understand that. If I show up and you run me off, that’s fine, as long as you tell me he’s ok. If pigs could fly and I could have what I want, .... well, you know.”

“What?” Kayla asked, “Say it Emma. Get it out there. I only met Cale briefly, but I love him, and I know what he’s said about you in his emails to us. Say it so we know, and you might have an ally in me.”

Emma laughed a little, “Now I have to meet you, Kayla. Alright, if pigs could fly, then I’d marry him in a heartbeat, and I’d do my best to make him as happy as the man at that homestead in our pictures. I’ve been doing that for six months. If I only had one chance, I’d happily do it until I’m dead.”

Kayla giggled, “That’s all I need to hear. You get your ass on that plane, Emma. Call when you land, and we’ll talk more.”

“Leave Cale to me,“ Josh said, “I’ll see to him. You come on down here.”

They gave Emma their cell numbers, and hung up. Emma sat back feeling a little better. Josh was aware now, and would look out for Cale. So at a minimum, she had done what was needed. Now if only she could somehow find herself a clean shot at fixing their hearts – mostly his...