Not only will Alessio succeed in firing me, but I would break my promise to Leo. That would make me feel shitty. But, the saving grace is that the guilt and sadness wouldn’t last long because the sadist would shoot me on the spot.
I’m disturbed by how fast I flipped the worst situation I’ve ever been in into something positive, like getting shot. Maybe I should visit a psych ward. Might as well. I’ve already got my bags packed and all.
“Did you say goodbye?” Alessio asks Leo.
Leo nods. “I did, Uncle.”
“I’m sorry that Ms. Wilder must go,” Alessio says.
Leo shrugs. “Me too.”
This kid should take up acting.
“Can I have a minute to freshen up?” I ask, hoping he’ll cave in, given how my face is swollen from crying and general stress.
Alessio checks the clock. It’s two minutes past ten, and I can see his jaw tighten. “Go ahead, but make it quick.”
I kiss Leo on top of his head and enter the guest bathroom downstairs, where I prop my palms on the counter, trying to figure out how I’ll buy Val an extra ten minutes. Using the bathroom takes only a few minutes, and Alessio will wonder what I’m doing. Regardless, I’m staying in here.
I sit on the toilet cover, obsessively checking my watch.
Sure enough, after two minutes, a soft knock comes from the door.
“Ms. Wilder?” Leo says. “My uncle says to hurry up.”
I bet he does. “Coming!” I answer. That buys me a minute.
A knock again. “He says to come out right away.”
“Tell him I can’t.”
“She says she can’t,” Leo shouts, then waits. “He wants to know why you can’t.”
“Um…” I look around the bathroom. “I got my period.”
“She has period. That makes no sense, Ms. Wilder.”
I’m still on governess duty, so I might as well teach him. “When a woman says she’s on her period, it means she is on her monthly cycle.”
“What’s that?” Leo asks. “Oh wait, my uncle says there’s famine products under the sink.”
“Feminine,” I correct.
“Okay, and also, he says to grab the whole box and come out of the bathroom. Ms. Wilder, he used the f-word. You know what that means, right?”
“Thank you, Leo.” Damn it. I remain inside the bathroom.
Something slams against the door. I jump off the toilet.
“Ms. Wilder.” Alessio’s voice drifts in. “You’re stalling. I’m going to count to ten, and you will open this door and walk out. One. The alternative is that I break down the door and drag you out. Two. Same outcome, very different experience for you. Three.”
Alessio’s fond of counting. When he spanked me over the bar stool, he counted backward from ten. Now it’s forward. (Don’t know why my brain supplied that info right now, but there you have it.)
“I can’t come out.” Yet. I need five more minutes.Universe, please deliver.
“Do you have belly pain?” Leo asks. “Sometimes when I have pain in my belly, I sit on the toilet for a looooong time.”
This is embarrassing. I rest my elbows on my knees and catch my head in my hands. Gawwwdddd.
