Page 45 of Gorgeous Misery

Wendy does.

Wendy deserves to be that confident. That safe. That loved.

And I know that Indie has nothing to do with how Wendy’s life has played out, but I want to blame her anyway.

I take a breath, ready to threaten Indie into submission and make her tell me where she is going to look, but she cuts me off. “I can find her. I promise you, I can. I know a little bit about her regular job.”

“Regular job?”

“You know. What she does for a living.”

“She… works? I mean, I know she works. She’s… like… a…”

“She’s a liaison, Nick.”

“Right. Liaison. I knew that. I was just looking for the right word. I thought you meant she was like… settled in some normie job.”

Indie guffaws. “Right. She’s an executive assistant for a scumbag CEO. Good one, Nick.”

“She works for me. Sometimes.”

“She works for Adam too. Lots of the time. I know he only just got back a couple months ago, but they talk regularly.”

“Regularly as in—”

“No. Not recently. I heard him calling her the other day. The day he talked to you, in fact. But she didn’t pick up. Have you tried her home?”

“The cabin? I was there a couple weeks ago. She hasn’t been home. Not since Christmas.”

“How do you know?”

“I just do. She’s not at home. She lives in her truck.”

“What?”

“Not like homeless people live in their cars, or anything like that. She doesn’t sleep in it. But she lives out of it. Like I do. Sometimes.”

“Well, that’s fucking weird. She can stay here if she needs a place. I could talk McKay into refurbishing the attic. It’s not a bad room. It’s a little hot in the summer, and we’d need to clean it out, but I think she would like it.”

“Indie. Fuck. Focus, OK? She’s not gonna stay with you. She could stay with me too. She has a home, for fuck’s sake. She likes the road.”

“Hmm. Well. I don’t know what to say about that.”

These fucking girls give me a headache. “So my question is, Indie, how the fuck are you gonna find her?”

“Get me Merc and I’ll go look for Wendy.”

“Get you Merc? I can’t get Merc, Indie. I’m dead, remember? He and I were tight. He thinks I’m dead.”

“Nick, I have a newsflash for you, OK? No one thinks you’re dead. I mean, maybe last year people were still like, ‘Yeah, Nick Tate. He’s so dead.’ But now…” I can almost see her wincing in my mind. “Nah. No one believes it anymore. And if this Merc guy is everything they say he is, he never bought into it either.”

I let out a long, frustrated breath. “I can’t, Indie.”

“Because you can’t look him in the eye?”

This girl. They say she’s crazy, and she is, but she’s not fucking stupid, that’s for sure. She sees right through me. “Yeah. That’s right. I can’t face them. I’m not ready for it.”

“Hmm. Well, I’m sure Wendy is fine then. But I gotta go now. I’m talking with a couple of other people who know Merc.”