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Julie sighed. “He’s too proud to ask,” she said to me. Then, to him, “Spit it out.”
Greg seemed unable to make eye contact. If he owned a brimmed hat, this was where he’d have it in his hands, moving it in a slow circle with his fingers.
“The thing is,” he said slowly, “ever since we stopped working together, things haven’t, well, they could be—”
“He’s lost without you, that’s what he’s wants to say,” Julie said.
“Yeah,” Greg said sheepishly. “In an nutshell, yeah. On my own, I’m always scrambling, you know? Have had some pretty long stretches between jobs. When we were a team, we did pretty good.”
“Except toward the end there,” I reminded him.
“I know, I know, we hit a bad stretch. But the economy was kind of stalled, too, at the time. It was one of those things.”
That wasn’t quite how I remembered it, but I let that go. I said, “I’d have to give it some thought.”
“That’s all we’re asking,” Julie said. “Right, Greg? We can’t ask for any more than that.”
Greg nodded. “Sorry to have disturbed you so late, man. Jayne, nice to see you. Apologies for the interruption.” He turned and headed for the street. Julie’s little Audi, not Greg’s truck, was parked there.
But Julie didn’t follow, and instead closed the distance between us. She kept her voice low.
“He thinks the world of you,” she said. “He really wants to give it another go.”
“Like I said—”
“I know I’m new here, and sticking my nose in where it doesn’t belong, but I can see how worn down he is. He tells me you guys, you had a good thing going at one time.”
“We did,” I conceded.
“And it’s not just about him,” Julie said. “He’s worried about you, and all the stuff—”
She looked at Jayne, wondering whether she was about to say too much.
“It’s okay,” I said. “Jayne’s up to speed on things. Guess you are, too.”
“Yeah. He knows you’ve got this cloud hanging over you, and he wants to, I don’t know, make a statement by going back into business with you. That he believes in you even if there are some out there who still don’t.”
Greg, who had gotten behind the wheel of Julie’s car, lightly tapped the horn.
“Have to go,” she said, and ran to the car.
“That was interesting,” Jayne said.
We watched them drive off, then went back into the house.
“What do you think?” Jayne asked as we were getting under the covers.
“I don’t know.”
“You know what I think? You should consider it. With all the shit that’s been happening, maybe it’s a good sign. An opportunity.”
I wasn’t convinced that was how Jayne really felt, but maybe after a long and unsettling weekend she wanted to grab on to anything that might allow us some reason for optimism.
So it was just as well I kept my thoughts to myself. I wasn’t looking forward to Monday morning. I couldn’t think of a single reason to believe we were heading into a good week.
Thirty-Six
The woman behind the wheel of the black Volvo station wagon was driving a circuitous route. A left here, a right there. She could not be sure, but she believed she was being followed. She’d seen enough TV shows to know that when you think someone is following you, you start driving randomly. See whether the vehicle you fear is trailing you makes the same moves.
