“Did something happen?”
“Sort of. I need to walk Apollo. Can you meet me?”
“For a walk? It’s freezing.”
“We’ll walk fast.”
“Just walk him over here. We’ll talk inside.”
“Okay.” I grab Apollo’s leash. “I’ll see you when I get there.”
Bailey is the only one of my new friends who knows about the old ones, and I give her, along with Evan, a lot of credit for making me feel confident enough that I can leave that group of people behind.
We hang up, and I cross the apartment, knocking softly on Evan’s door.
“I’m fine, Deacon,” he says from the other side.
Erring on the side of giving him space, I call through the door. “I’m going on a walk. Do you want me to take the dog?”
A few seconds pass, and the door opens. Apollo is sitting next to Evan, looking up at me. He definitely knows the word walk.
I do a quick perusal of Evan. I know he missed work today, and that’s not baseline for him. “You doing okay?” He looks fine. He’s dressed in what he normally wears around the house. Mismatched sweats and white socks.
“Fine,” he says. “You can take him.”
“Thanks,” I say, even though I’m the one technically doing the favor. It feels like the least I can do. I’m almost positive Bailey will confirm that.
“Thank you,” he says. “I’ve been kind of slacking.”
“It’s no problem. Let’s go, buddy,” I say to the dog.
Without knowing what else to say, I leave. The walk to Bailey’s takes me about fifteen minutes today. It’s frozen and misty out, and I’m cold as fuck.
She hurries me inside when I get there, already bundled up in a fuzzy robe and–– “Are those beaver slippers?”
“Malcolm gave them to me for Christmas. He’s an asshole, but they’re so warm.”
I have to laugh at that as I let Apollo off his leash. Bailey’s apartment reminds me a little of Millie’s. While there’s a lotmore logic to the way Bailey sorts her things, the color is definitely all there. It’s like being inside a fruit salad, color-wise.
“Did you hear about the Apollo drama?” I ask.
She rubs his head, which comes all the way up to her waist even when he’s sitting. “Apollo has drama?”
“Millie says he knocked up Manon at the New Year’s party.”
Bailey laughs so hard she snorts. Repetitively. “Can you imagine? No. We would have heard something.”
“The music was pretty loud.”
She shrugs. “And the drinks were strong…”
“Still.” I look down at the dog.
“Right,” she seems to agree. “Is that why you called Gray?”
“No,” I say, all the actual reasons bumrushing my brain and taking over. “So, I went on a date last weekend.”
“A real date with an upstanding citizen, or?—”
