the call that reaches only a performed couple — "he got her audio answering device…"
he got her audio answering device, the message had a snatch of ironic pop music and her voice and a male voice together saying we'll call you back, and the 'we' made them sound like a couple
Context
The one time he tries the channel it dead-ends in a recording: not her but a produced message, her voice paired with a man's into a "we" that shuts him out of a couplehood he is not part of. And he hangs up without speaking, because the medium would betray exactly the need he is at pains to hide. The phone connects him to a performance of intimacy while he stands outside it, unable even to leave a word.