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“Well, we’re not turning back now.” He glanced at the clock on the dashboard that read 11:17 p.m. He clicked his tongue. “Hold on, let me think.”
I had nothin’, so I watched him think instead, bearing witness to the moment he formed a plan. He smiled to himself and lifted his hips off the seat to pull his phone out of his back pocket, accidentally punching the accelerator and briefly sending us rocketing forward. His smile morphed into a wince, and with a mumbled apology, he handed me his phone. Without warning, he commanded “Hey, Siri.” His phone dinged in my hand in answer. “Call L-L.”
“Calling L-L,” Siri responded, and the phone started ringing.
Three short rings later, there was an answer. “Hellllllo? Is this Dezi or Dezi’s butt calling?” asked a familiar sing-song voice.
I gaped at the phone. “Liem?”
And Dezi? I didn’t know he called Cody that. Fucking nicknames.
Liem’s pause was short. “Best friend?!” he shouted excitedly, loud enough to be heard across the cab. The truck swerved off the road briefly before Cody corrected it and yelled, “Excuse me?” before demanding I put the phone on speaker.
“What do you mean ‘best friend’?”
“Oh! It’s both of you. This is lovely.”
Cody glanced down at my foot again, as if reminding himself of tonight’s priorities, and huffed. “Liem, can you do me a favor?”
“Always,” he answered instantly.
Cody’s expression was unreadable. “Can you go over to Bree’s and get her wallet and bring it to Gulf Memorial?” He surveyed my clothes and then his own. “And can you bring a change of clothes for both of us?”
“Yes,” Liem agreed instantly.
“And you know where Bree lives, right?”
Liem hummed. “The house with the columns off the main road, right?”
Cody eyed me curiously. “Um, kind of. Look, we’re pulling into the hospital now, so I’ll text you instructions in just a moment. Thanks, Liem.”
He pulled into a parking space by the Emergency Department as Liem's affirmative sounded, seeming much louder without the rumble of the truck’s engine in the background. “We’ll see you guys soon! Bye!”
We?
Cody reached over and took the phone from my hands, ending the call before he started texting, thumbs flying rapidly over the screen.
Who was “we”?
But of course I knew.
And I fell again, straight through that cloud I had been walking on just this morning.
27
VINH
You didn’t expect a knock on the door, especially your houseboat door, thirty minutes before midnight.
Unless your brother is Liem Lott.
I unlatched the door to let him in, but he made no move to leave the dock.
“Good morning,” he greeted before making a show of surveying the darkness around us before amending, “Well, close enough.” He stuffed his hands into the pockets of his rain jacket, the sleeves hiding his tattoos and the hood obscuring his half-shaved hair, and said matter-of-factly, “We need to get in the Rav and go to Bree’s.”
I wasn’t sure what I’d expected, but it wasn’t that. I rubbed the back of my neck. Rain usually helped lull me into a nice, deep sleep, but this evening’s persistent rain had made me edgy, and I hadn’t been able to sleep.
“It’s one thing for you to show up at my door close to midnight, Liem, but I don’t think Bree would appreciate it.”
