I was walking quietly past Matthew’s door to get to the office-turned-snake-room when the door opened. Ginny jolted in surprise. So did I. Her hair was a wild mess, and she was wearing Matthew’s dressing gown.
“You’re back,” she exhaled. “Um… I was just… helpin’ Matt with…”
“You don’t have to finish that sentence,” I told her quickly.
She nodded. “Good call.”
“I’m going to go now.”
She nodded again. “Right. Yes. I’m gonna… bathroom.”
“Mmhmm.” I turned and walked briskly the rest of the way until I shut the office door behind me.Thatwas something to deal with tomorrow.
My phone buzzed first thing in the morning. Dex was calling me again. This time, I answered. “Hello?”
“Hey, Snakey,” he sighed, sounding more tired than I was.
“What’s wrong?”
There was a long moment of silence before he spoke again. “I went to the physiotherapy sessions you paid for.”
“That’s good. How’s the leg?”
He scoffed. “Fine.” More silence, and then, “You promised if I went, that you’d help me get my rabbit back.”
My stomach felt heavy, because I had promised that. “He’s still running?”
“He’s slowing down. I think maybe… he’s almost ready to come home. But I don’t want to show up if he’s not. I don’t want to scare him away again, so I was thinking… maybe if you went and like, talked to him… maybe you could find out?”
He sounded exhausted. There was none of the teasing in his voice I’d come to expect from him. While we weren’t exactly close, Dex had helped me when I needed it the most, and I owed him. But with things still so uncertain with Leon, I also couldn’t leave Benny and his family to repay that debt. Not yet.
“Listen, I know I promised I’d help, and I will, Dex. I promise I will. It’s just… now isn’t a good time.”
He sighed. “I really need this, Harper. I need him. He needs me too, I know he does. I just need to know he’s ready. Just a couple of weeks or something, just until I have him back. Please.”
“I… I can’t. Not right now. Just give me a little more time.”
“It’s been a year.”
It felt somehow like it had been so much longer, and also like it had only happened yesterday. “I’m sorry. I really am, Dex. I just—”
The line went dead.
“What’s that about?” Benny grumbled from the bed next to me.
I’d told him about Dex, and how he’d helped methatnight. I told him I owed him. But I couldn’t leave now, not without knowing what Leon would try next.
forty-two
Benny
ANY WAY THAT MATTERS.
Business was bad.
The gym had never been so quiet, even when we’d first opened. Almost all our regular clients had either canceled their memberships or just stopped showing up. There were early cancellation fees in place in membership contracts, and they’d been paid out without complaints.
I hadn’t tried to replace Georgio. With the lack of training sessions being booked, I could easily handle the very few we still had. I was still hurt by the way he’d left, though. Just a text message with no notice, and he hadn’t replied to any of mine since.
