“What are you gonna do if she shows up?”
Jack hadn’t really considered that. “Hit her with a chair?”
“You need salt,” said Boris. “Throw salt at her.”
“I don’t have any salt,” Jack said. “I’ll just hit her with the bottle.”
“Yeah, good enough,” said Boris, yawning. “I’d like to see you fight that hag.”
“Hopefully it doesn’t come to that,” said Jack in his most reassuring voice.
The hag never appeared. Jack spent the night perched at Boris’s feet, staring at the television. The nine o’clock news only just mentioned Hannah and her now-suspect husband. A search party returned with frustratingly few findings.
“Just Hannah,” Jack told himself firmly. “It’s only Hannah.”
His gaze drifted to the phone. Fingers itched to type in the number to the castle. Only Boris’s solid (and likely judgmental) presence kept him from reaching for the handset.
She told you not to call, Jack told himself sternly.She asked you to trust her.
And he did. It was Ronnie he didn’t trust.
Ronnie, who he’d never even met, and knew so little about. What was he capable of? Where was Carla now? If the time loop ended, would she be safe?
If the time loop ended, would he ever see her again?
Hours passed. The alcohol wore off. Jack began to doze. Woke with a start each time he started to slide from the edge of the bed. Not once did Boris stir.
At two o’clock in the morning, Jack reached to shake his shoulder.
“What? What?” said Boris, sitting bolt upright, looking around wildly.
“It’s two a.m.,” said Jack. “Don’t you need to let your dog out?”
“Oh,” said Boris. “Yeah, sure. You’re right. Fuck. I feel like I slept for a year.”
“Three hours,” said Jack, pointing at the alarm clock.
“Basically a year.”
“Yeah, sure.”
“These beds suck,” Boris grumbled, throwing the sheets back. “How have you been doing this every night?”
“Lack of alternatives, mostly.”
“Jeez. My car is more comfortable than this.”
“I mean, you could give me an upgrade.”
“Yeah,” said Boris, shrugging. “But why would I?”
“Because you can’t take three seconds to fill out a form?”
“Hey, my time is valuable, OK? Besides, you’d just end up here again.” Boris shoved his feet into heavy work boots, turned to grin cheekily. “I gotta go. Thanks for letting me use your bed.”
“Any time,” Jack said, and meant it, with a little too much longing for someone who kind ofmaybehad a girlfriend.
The door slammed and he was alone again.
