Chapter 36

After a long second of silence, Devin finally speaks. “Where you been?”

I give him a frown. “It’s eight in the morning, where the fuck do you think I’ve been?”

“We don’t know,” Mark says. “We tried you at home a couple of times, but the line’s been busy all night. This morning, too. Is something wrong with your phone?”

The phone. Damn it. I took it off the hook yesterday afternoon when Jimmy and I got there. What with the convincing him to stay for dinner and then spending the night, I didn’t think to put it back on line. “I had a headache,” I lie. “I didn’t want the phone to ring so I took it off the hook.”

The words sound so hollow and foreign. I’m lying, outright and again, to the only two men that have had my back all these years. “Oh, is that why you left early?” Mark asks. “Because we tried here first. Like…six fucking times. Stacy said you didn’t come back from lunch.”

“Do I have to justify my hours to you now?” I ask, immediately defensive.