I'd lost my appetite, but I made a conscious effort to sound normal.

The effort that it took to just sound normal over the phone made my chest tight.

I said, and my voice sounded very normal to me.

She took a deep breath and forced herself to sound normal.

"Just say the truth," I told him, trying to sound normal.

But she did manage to keep her voice sounding normal.

It took everything Lila had to sound normal when she asked her next question.

His voice sounded so normal she almost thought he hadn't heard her confession of love.

Then she heard herself say in a voice that sounded almost normal, 'Of course.

I took a couple more calls and spent all my effort trying to sound normal.