I swallowed and looked away.
“Is anyone else out there?”?Mia asked.
“Why? Are you cooking up some romantic scenario where she goes flying off the treadmill and lands on my—” ?
“Theo Alexander Bolton. Can shehearyou? Be a gentleman.”?
“She has headphones on, and Iama gentleman. I was going to say lap. You’re the one with the dirty mind.”
She huffed, part amused, part frustrated. “If I hadn’t seen firsthand how you grew up, I would have assumed you were raised by wolves. You’re so feral sometimes.”
“Getting back to the question,” I said, keeping my eyes anywhere but on Sadie, “why do you want to know if we’re alone?”?
“I think you should put this silent beef?behind you and go make friends with her.”?
“Oh, you do, do you?” Sadie could barely make eye contact with me when I was on the other side of the room. If I walkedover there and struck up a conversation with her, she’d have a heart attack or punch me in the balls. “Why?”
“All this sickness and loss is changing my view of the world. We don’t know how much time we’ve got left, and you’re stuck there together. Wouldn’t it feel less lonely if you had someone to talk to?”??
“I’m not lonely.” I could call or text another resident for company anytime. It was physical touch I craved, and months without it had made me restless. “I’ve got Tim and Varesh. Laura, Owen, and their daughters. Then there’s the building manager.”
Seventeen people lived here before Ultimus. As of last week, the number was down to eight. Any day now, it could drop again.
“That’s not what I mean, Theo, and you know it.”?
The building manager, Dustin Kerger, came outside right on cue. Sadie was the lightning, and he was the thunder. Whenever she appeared, I knew he wouldn’t be far behind.
He spared me a glance, his pinched features relaxing when he found me on the phone.
“I’ve really gotta go this time,” I said.?
“What’s happening?”?
“Kerger’s on the prowl,” I said as he approached the treadmill. “Always following the women around, and he’s partial to Sadie.”?
He leaned one elbow on the handrail and rested his foot on the conveyor belt’s frame, launching into whatever reason he’d conjured up to intrude on her time.
My body turned rigid, my grip tightening on the phone.
Sadie pressed a button, and the treadmill slowed to walking pace. Breathing hard, she pulled her headphones down around her neck and leaned back a bit from Dustin.
“All right, I’ll let you go,” Mia said. “Talk soon?”?
“Will do.” I ended the call and slipped my phone into my pocket, ready to protect a woman who barely acknowledged my existence.
My sneakers were soundless as I crossed the tiled floor, approaching Dustin from the side so he wouldn’t see me coming. For a lurker and borderline stalker, he was surprisingly jittery. “How’s it going, Kerger?”
He jerked and almost lost his balance. “Theodore,” he said, pushing his glasses back into place. “I’ve been meaning to speak to you. Your rent’s a month late. Keep this up, and you’re at risk of eviction.”
He always delivered his words like pompous little punches, but none ever landed. “It’s just Theo,” I reminded him, “and there’s a pandemic, Dustin. Everyone’s late paying rent.”
Sadie hitstopon the treadmill and exhaled through her nose. She shot me a glance and grabbed her towel, patting the perspiration off her skin.
Kerger swept his salt-and-pepper hair off his forehead, and his thin mouth lifted on one side. “Doodling on people’s skin with needles didn’t turn out to be the smartest career move now, did it,Theo? If you’d chosen a more valuable profession, you’d still have an income, and we wouldn’t be in this position now.”?
And I’d be exposed to the virus for hours at a time, day after day. No thanks.
I didn’t get the chance to respond, which was probably for the best.
