Emily startled awake at one in the morning to the sound of dial-tone and the little electronic voice on the line telling her the phone was off the hook.

The last thing I recall was telling Evan at 12:45 that we should really hang up... I knew he was exhausted from practice because he had been emitting jaw-breaking yawns every few minutes, which made me do so automatically in return...

Their final ten minutes of conversation had featured more gaping maws than words.

Neither one of us wanted to be the first to say good night...

Then she remembered hearing his susurrus breath and realized he had been the first to succumb to slumber. It took Emily only one minute of listening to the steady rhythm that was Evan to be lulled into dreams of her own.

Now upon waking, she turned the phone off and crept out of her room to put the handset back on the cradle. Her mother had passed out on the sofa with an infomercial flickering softly on the television. The volume was turned all the way down low.

She was probably trying to eavesdrop on the phone call instead of going into her own room...

Emily shut off the television and covered her mom with an afghan.  Then she climbed back into bed and texted Evan.

Sorry I fell asleep. Good Night Jersey Boy XO

She drifted back into her own deep sleep as she listened to the foghorns blow a baleful refrain across the foggy waters of the narrows.