“Na. She’s just quiet. She’s an excellent programmer, really conscientious.”
He rolls his eyes at me and leans forward. “She’s just going to be another problem for him to deal with if she stays here.”
I gape at him. “You got all that within five minutes of meeting her?” I step forward and grip his arm. “Don’t say stuff like that. We talked about not leaving him here on his own, and she fell like an angel into my lap. It was serendipity. She’ll keep an eye on him.”
“Serengeti more like. James is going to be savaged by a lion, and she will be too scared to step in and do anything.”
“What evenisthis conversation? James is not going to be savaged by a lion.”
“It was a metaphorical lion, Desmond! If he’s struggling, who’s going to intervene? I don’t think it’s going to be her. She’s more likely to be stepping onto the ledge with him.”
Stepping onto the ledge?Urgghhh.
“Christ, Alex.”
He shrugs. “I’m not wrong.”
“Come on now, she’s just quiet.”
“Des, how do you know she’s not in trouble? Underneath that makeup, she’s got a bruise on her cheekbone the size of a plum. Someone hit her.”
“I know about the bruise! James told me he’d talked to her about it. He said, if she moved in, he could keep an eye on her. I thought they could keep tabs on each other.”
He tsks at me. “But she’s never going to step up forhim, Des. That bruisemeans she’s got somebody abusive in her life, that’s what it means, and she’s tolerating it. She’s not protecting herself, never mind someone else.”
I hold up my hand. “You can’t assume that, Alex! People stay in bad situations for all sorts of reasons and not necessarily because they’re not a fighter! Your dad hit you, didn’t he? And you lived at home. That didn’t make you weak.”
He sinks down next to me. “Maybe it did. I stayed far longer than I should have.” He groans, dropping his head into his hands, and I slide an arm around his back and kiss his cheek.
“Coming out is never simple, Alex—and it was your father, your whole family. That’s not easy to escape. Cut yourself some slack here.” I give him a squeeze.
He turns his head toward me. “Perhaps Sadie’s got an unhinged boyfriend, like Marla. This city is crawling with lunatics.”
My heart pitter-patters uneasily in my chest. “Quit being Mr. Doom and Gloom. Don’t spin a disaster out of nothing.” I stand up and pace over to the window.
Goddammit. He is right that I know very little about Sadie. As usual, I’ve acted first and thought later. Christ, have I really landed James with another problem? James is such a rescuer of lost souls. He always wants to help whoever’s having the worst time. I just get annoyed and grumpy. I’ve been trying to learn from his example because I thought that would make me a better manager. He’s going to be a great leader once he’s brave enough to step up and stops burying himself in complicated Samsung hardware problems.
I groan as I sink down onto the bed next to Alex and stare at our suitcases stacked on the floor. “What can we do about it now? We’re leaving today.” I look at my watch. “In two hours, in fact.” I jam my hands between my knees and hunch over. “We need a backup plan.”
“Like what?” he says.
“Hmm, maybe your metaphorical lion has given me an idea.”
Chapter 10
Sadie
I’ve never seen a kitchen as fancy as the one in Des’s apartment. It has a built-in coffeemaker with a vast range of terrifying settings, some of which I’m sure would clean your teeth for you. It’s taken me weeks to try all the different options on the one in the office. After Des and Alex leave in a flurry of hugs and thank-yous, I prop myself against the countertop, several paces away from James, and watch the muscles in his arms flex as he throws beans into a pan, followed by chicken. Then he pulls a tub of something green out of the fridge.
“What’s that?” I say, nodding at the goop as James spoons it into the pan.
“Pesto.”
Pesto? “It looks very fancy.”
He glances at me over his shoulder, frowning, and my face heats. “What do you like to cook?” he says.
Before I can stop myself, I say, “I don’t cook.”
