A letter will not do. He does not want Lyssa voicing his words for Alice.

And neither will an actual phone conversation. It’s cowardly, but Cross is not ready to hear the hurt or anger in her voice.

So he uses a little trick: sending a message directly to voicemail without actually calling.

A few nights after their disastrous conversation, he records the message speaking into the phone, his normally neutral tone thick with emotion, and sends it off in one stroke before he can reconsider:

“Alice…

I didn’t know if I should call. Didn’t want to force you to speak to me. Didn’t want to force you to make the decision to ignore me either. So I recorded this instead.

I just wanted to say I’m sorry.

I was wrong to judge you.

I was wrong to tell you what to do. Or not to do.

I was wrong to yell at you. To treat you the way I did.

I should have just told you how happy I am you’re safe. How happy I am that you’re back. How much I love you.

I was scared and I was frustrated and I let that get the best of me.

I’m not asking you to forgive me. Not until you’re ready, at least. If you ever are.

But if you do, and if you’re ready to talk. I’m here.

I love you, Alice.”

With that, the message ends.