Eleven Years All to the Wrong Man novel Chapter 168

He said it cheerfully, without a hint of formality or treating Evan like a guest.

Seeing this, Evan felt a bit better. Even if Emma wasn't happy with him, it was good to have her family’s approval.

The two continued washing dishes. Suddenly, Evan’s phone, which was in the pocket of his overcoat on the bench, began to vibrate softly.

“Evan, I think your phone’s ringing!”

Eric heard it first.

“Is it?”

Evan glanced at his coat on the bench but didn’t seem anxious to answer the call. He kept washing the bowl in his hands.

Eric rinsed his hands under the cold water, wiped them on the back of his pants, and said to Evan, “Hang on, I’ll get it for you.”

With that, he walked over to the bench in a few quick steps, grabbed the coat, and fished the phone out of the pocket.

“Me… Melissa!”

At the mention of that name, Evan’s hands paused in the water.

Eric held up the phone, ran back to Evan’s side, and announced loudly, “Evan, it’s someone named Melissa calling you!”

He spoke so loudly that he didn’t notice the unnatural flicker in Evan’s expression.

Evan grabbed a clean cloth from the side, wiped his hands, and took the phone from Eric. He mumbled a quiet “thanks” and walked toward a corner outside the kitchen.

“Mr. Cooper! It’s me, Thomas! Melissa’s father!”

The man on the other end, Thomas, glanced back toward the hospital room door as he spoke loudly and a bit nervously into the phone.

“Yes, hello. Can I help you with something?”

Even after realizing it was Mr. Carter on the phone, Evan’s brow remained tightly knitted. He lowered his voice and glanced back toward the kitchen.

“I, uh, I’m calling because there is, well, something I was hoping you could help me with…”

As he thought about what he was about to say, a blush crept up Thomas’s face. He had just used the excuse of wanting his daughter to make him some soup to send her out. The moment she was gone, he had grabbed her phone from the nightstand where it was charging. He remembered the pattern lock he had secretly observed her using before and easily unlocked the screen. After a quick search, he found Evan’s number in her contacts.

Before making the call, Thomas thought he was fully prepared. But now that the call was connected and he was speaking to this wealthy and powerful young man, he found himself suddenly nervous and tongue-tied.