“You did,” Simone agrees.
He slides her a glance Simone doesn’t see, because she’s looking out across the apple orchard with a thousand-yard stare. Wasps hum in the fallen fruit. “Can you forgive me?” he asks.
“I have,” says Simone. “Mostly. I’m working on it.”
The poor fool leans toward her, and I tense involuntarily, but he just plants a kiss on her cheek. Simone smiles to herself. I consider stealing away, not because I’m disgusted by this display but because it’s not worth my time. Simone’s not here to sleep with this toothless junkyard dog; she’d be legitimately stupid if she did, and I don’t misjudge people that badly. She’s here for comfort, like a child clutching an old binkie. That’s fine, but I have more important things to do.
Then he says, “So what made you hit the fire alarm today?”
“Somebody broke into my room at the retreat. Trashed it and took my laptop.”
“That’s terrible! Did you report it?”
“The owners did. They were mortified. They said they’d never had a break-in before.” Simone sighs. “They don’t have a security system beyond locking the doors at night because they host only writers. What’re people going to steal?”
“Um, laptops?”
“Well, we know thatnow.”
“Please tell me you backed up your work.”
“Sort of,” says Simone. “I keep forgetting to use my thumb drive, but I’ve been emailing myself what I’m working on at the end of every day.”
I grind my knuckles into the pine bark.Fuck.Not only is she appropriating my past, she’s stealing my backup method. And she didn’t tell me this. It’s unwelcome news. It means her new purloined abomination still exists out there somewhere.
“That’s a relief. And you can always get a new laptop.”
“I’m going to have to. I found the old one by the duck pond. It looked like somebody had run over it with a truck.”
“Wait,” says the ex. “That makes no sense. If someone stole it to fence it, why would they destroy it?”
“Because they weren’t going to pawn it. It was a warning. To me. I think from this insane woman who’s been stalking me ever since... I got involved with another writer. A guy, I mean.” Simone glances at him. “Sorry, do you not want me to talk to you about this?”
“It stings a little,” he admits. “But go on.”
Simone tells him about the Rabbit. “It’s probably her. Although it also could be another woman, an ex William tried to break it off with, who’s maybe not taking no for an answer...”
“Let me get this straight,” he says. “This guy has not one but two women stalking him.”
“Not him. Me. And it’s probably only one. I just can’t tell which one. But I’m pretty sure she, whichever it was, is the one who broke into my room at the retreat and trashed it. Nobody else’s room was touched.”
“Did she leave you a note this time?”
Simone pauses. “No. Come to think of it, she didn’t. Unless I just didn’t see it... I was upset, so I didn’t look that closely.”
“I’ll bet. Sam, I don’t want to overstep, but I have to say: This guy sounds like bad news.”
That is a bitof an overstep, pal, I think.
“Not overstepping,” says Simone. “Caring. It’s not his fault, though.”
“I’m not sure I agree. You said not one but two women. It sounds like a pattern. And patterns don’t make themselves. He either didn’t stop them—or he’s actively encouraging it.”
Simone laughs. “That’s dramatic.”
“It’s a dramatic situation. Stalking? Notes in your apartment? Now a break-in? Good grief, why are you staying with this guy?”
Simone sighs. “I’m not sure I am with him. We’re kind of on the outs right now. Not because of thedramatic situation. Because of the book.”
