Page 31 of Kaine

There’s the silence again.

“Fine, just give me a minute.”

I wander over to the kitchen bench where Xavier left his card and number. I pick up the house phone and dial.

“Kaine?” Xavier answers on the first ring.

Kaine... starts with a K.

“No, it’s Jade, the squatter.”

“Yes, Ms. Sinclair, what can I do for you?”

“I need you to get my friend ding’d up so she can come up to the apartment.”

“No. Anything else?”

“Xavier. I need her to bring me some work while I wait for your anti-social stubborn boss to come home so I can say thank you to him. The work will keep me busy so I stop trashing his apartment and going through all his personal belongings. You’d think he’d want that, wouldn’t you?”

There’s silence on the line and then a sigh. “You know... you’re exactly like him. Call him yourself, his number is...”

“Whoa, whoa! Wait!”

I grab a pen from my bag and prepare to jot down the number on my arm.

“Thank you, Xavier. I owe you.”

“You WILL owe me, when I get fired.”

I hang up the phone and dial the number.

It’s not until it starts ringing that I notice the knot in my stomach at the prospect of talking to him.