AllFreeNovel
Share Us
We’re both quiet as Freddy drives south along the waterfront. A dozen questions form a logjam between my brain and my mouth, and instead of asking just one, I stare at him, silent. He slows the truck as he approaches a red light and a grin breaks across his face.
“Do I have something on my face?” he asks, a teasing tone in his voice.
“No,” I say. But then I don’t say anything else.
His eyes flicker to mine, and I can see how tired they are. He has dark smudges beneath his eyes where his cheeky grin doesn’t quite reach.
“Did Midge ask you to pick me up?”
He tilts his head back and forth as if debating whether to answer honestly.
“Yes… and no.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means I had some free time on my hands, and she thought you might be more receptive to me picking you up than someone else.”
There’s no doubt who thatsomeone elseis. I snort.
“She wasn’t wrong.”
He frowns, but the light turns green, and he shifts and accelerates through it. Fall is waning in Portland, the brisk coastal gales have swept over the western range and stolen all but the brownest of leaves from trees. Those brown leaves rattle in the wind as we drive over Burnside and move into the southwest quadrant of the city, the financial district.
“He wanted to be here, you know.”
I don’t say anything.
“I just want to make that clear. I talked him down, so did Midge. He gets it. But he wanted to be the one picking you up.”
I look out my window.
“He’s trying to do the right thing.”
“You of all people should knowtryingdoesn’t always mean much.”
“What?” He sounds legitimately perplexed.
“I know it was his phone. His contacts. His bullshit. You took the fall for him, Freddy.”
He looks surprised but doesn’t object. I shake my head and rest my hands on my belly.
“Why would you do that? You had a long career ahead of you. From everything he’s said and from everything I’ve seen, you could’ve had a great career. So what did he say to you? What did it take for you to take that hit?”
“Nothing,” he says, shaking his head. He turns his signal on as we approach the Hawthorne Bridge and leans back in the seat, letting his head fall back. “He didn’t know I was doing it.”
“What?” I scoff, but he doesn’t change his expression.
“I knew what was on his phone. The images.” His cheeks flush pink. “Megan, you have to know, that was my fault. I didn’t intend it.”
“What are you talking about?” I frown.
“He never told you?”
I shake my head. He squeezes the back of his neck as his entire face goes deep red.
“He handed me his phone to pull up a scouting video he took, and my thumb slipped and it uploaded.”
“Oh god.” My heart is racing, my stomach in knots.
