“Well, I’m calling because Ryan was hoping he could talk to you. He asked me to pass his contact info on.”
“What does he want to talk about?”
“He didn’t say.”
“He’s not going to yell at me, is he?”
“I think you’re confusing the brothers. The loud one is Aaron. Ryan is the younger one who barely talked.”
“Sorry, you’re right. Most of yesterday is still a fog. I barely remember coming home.”
“If you need me to go over things with you again, I’m happy to do so.”
“I probably will, but not yet. Maybe next week?”
“I’ll be here when you’re ready.”
“Thank you.”
“Do you have a pen and paper?”
“Hold on.” The line went quiet for a few seconds, then she said, “I’m ready.”
Stone read off Ryan’s phone number and email address and had her repeat them back to make sure there were no mistakes.
“That’s it,” he said.
“You really have no clue as to what he wants to talk about?”
“Not a one.”
“Okay. I think I need to clear my head before I call him.”
“You do whatever you need to. You don’t even have to call him if you don’t want to.”
“Thank you, Stone.”
“Have a good day, Susan. And try not to thinktoomuch.”
She chuckled. “As if that’s possible.”
Stone hung up and Joan buzzed. He looked at the phone and saw that none of the other lines were in use.
He hit theSpeakerbutton. “I know for a fact you don’t have a call waiting for me.”
“You are correct.”
“Then you’re calling me because…?”
“I didn’t want to be the one who broke the pattern.”
“Goodbye, Joan.”
“Wait. Therewassomething.”
“What?”
“Let me think.” She clicked her tongue in her mouth severaltimes. “Ah, that’s right. Dino called. He said seven-thirty, not seven.”
