“Sit down,” he said, depositing me in an armchair and turning up the thermostat on the wall. The digital display illuminated as Javi adjusted the temperature, cranking it up to seventy degrees from the cool fifty-five it had been set to. “It’s fucking cold in here,” he said with a shudder as he knelt in front of me.
I managed a hoarse laugh. Compared to the temperature outside, Brendan’s living room felt like a spa. My whole body had started shaking and my skin prickled as the blood crept back into my extremities.
“How long have you been out there?” he asked, pushing back my wet sleeves.
“F-f-feels like f-f-forever.” I could hardly feel my face, and my words came out in a stutter.
He took my hands in his, turning them over to examine the pads of my fingers. His were probably still warm from the car, butif they were, I couldn’t tell. “You’ll be fine,” he said, peeling off my drenched sneakers to examine my toes. “Do I want to know what you were doing out there?”
“Probably not.”
A muscle worked in Javi’s jaw. He had a history of scrapes with the law, and I hated the idea of involving him in any more of mine. “Don’t move,” he said, securing the blanket around me. “I’ll find some towels.”
Touching anything inside Brendan’s condo didn’t feel wise, but I was too cold to care as Javi left me in the living room while he searched Brendan’s closets. Doors opened and shut down the hall, followed by the sound of a dryer tumbling to life. The heat had clicked on and warm air rustled the fringed edges of the blanket. Sinking to the floor, I pressed my hands to the nearest vent, relishing the rush of warmth to my fingertips. Under the light from the lamp on the table beside me, I watched the color slowly return to my skin.
I paused, my gaze catching on the lamp cord. It was connected to a timer, the kind that turned lights on and off at preprogrammed intervals. The same kind Vero and I had used the night we’d snuck out to bury Harris, when we’d wanted to trick Mrs. Haggerty into thinking we were home.
I winced at the needles of pain that shot through my toes as I stood and shambled to the thermostat. It had been set low—economically low—as if Brendan hadn’t planned to be home anytime soon. I peeked in the kitchen. The counters and sink were spotless, the coffeepot clean. I hobbled inside and opened the fridge, finding only condiments, pickles, jams, and jellies. No leftovers. No fresh produce or sandwich meats. Nothing that might spoil.
The trash can under the sink was empty. All of them were. Even the one in Brendan’s bathroom.
No toothbrush or toothpaste in the holder.
Vero was right. Brendan had skipped town and abandoned his grandmother.
Pain lanced through my feet as I made my way back to the sofa.
Javi emerged from the laundry room, his phone pressed to his ear and a pile of hot towels in his arms. “I’ve got her. She’s fine… Well if you’re feeling that grateful, I can think of a few things we could—Vero…?” He frowned at the screen on his phone and shoved it in his pocket. “She wants you to call her,” he said, arranging the hot towels around my feet. “I’ve got to go. I promised Ramón I’d be at the shop thirty minutes ago. Do you have your phone?”
I nodded. “Thanks, Javi.”
He gathered his toolbox but hesitated when he reached the door. “Hey, can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
“If someone you really cared about asked you a question, and you swore to them you’d never lie to them or do anything to hurt them, but you knew the answer might really mess things up, would you tell them?”
“Oh, wow. I really don’t think I’m the best person to ask.” I was still struggling with that question myself.
“You’re the only person Icanask. And you know Vero as well as I do.”
“What about Ramón?”
Javi pulled a face. “I can’t ask Ramón. He’d remove my nuts with a bolt cutter if he eventhoughtI’d say anything that would hurt Vero, but she’s pissed at me because I won’t tell her anything about the people I dated after she left for college.” He shook his head.“I don’t know what to do, Finlay. I want to be honest with her—I promised her I would—but having that conversation with her feels like walking through a field of land mines. If I tell her everything, she’ll probably hate me. But if I don’t, she’ll think I’m trying to hide something from her. Either way, I’m screwed. I don’t know what she wants from me.”
“Maybe all she wants is a little reassurance. Maybe she just needs to know you’rewillingto be honest with her, even if it feels like a risk. She’s taking a risk, too,” I reminded him. “Maybe she just needs to know that it’s worth it. That no matter what happened in the past with someone else, nothing is more important to you than your future withher.”
He looked down at his hand, flexing his fingers as he stared at his purple bat ring. “People keep giving me shit about it, but I haven’t taken off this ring since the day I put it on. I meant every word I said to her that night. I just want her to trust me.”
“Then you have to trust her, too,” I pointed out. “Tell her why you’re holding back. Then letherdecide how much she’s ready to hear.”
He nodded, his shoulders rising and falling with a sigh, as if he’d come to some decision. “Thanks,” he said, giving the condo one last look. “Remember to wipe the place down before you go.” He drew his baseball cap low over his eyes, slipped out the door, and locked the dead bolt behind him.
I pulled my phone from my pocket and speed-dialed Vero.
“You were right,” I said when she answered. “Brendan’s gone. It looks like he plans to be away for a while.”
“We arenotgetting saddled with that woman. Go through his things and figure out where he went. He’s probably hiding out at some fancy hotel with room service, celebrating the fact that someone else is watching his grandma.”
