I muted my friend's voice notes and kept replying as if I'd listened

'You always know what to say,' my friend texted after I sent a heart and 'That sounds like a lot.' I hadn't played the voice note.

She sends several a week, often ten or fifteen minutes long, usually about a difficult day at work or an argument with her sister. I used to listen on my walk home. Then the messages started arriving in groups, and I felt as if every free stretch of time had already been assigned. I muted the chat.

I still care about her. I also started responding with things that could fit almost anything. 'Hope tomorrow is easier.' 'I'm here.' Sometimes I listened to the first minute. Sometimes none of it.

Yesterday she wrote, 'So are you free Sunday, like I asked in the last one?' I hadn't heard the invitation. She wants a proper catch-up because we haven't seen each other in a month, and I do want to go.

I need to change this arrangement, but I'm embarrassed to admit I've been faking my side of it. Do I tell her about the unread notes, or begin with what I can realistically listen to from now on? Saying I was just busy would leave out the part where I deliberately sounded available.