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She was quiet. I could only hear her breathing, and music playing low in the background.
“What time is work in the morning?” The drive from the hotel to her house wasn’t long. I could be there in minutes.
“I need to be in at eight. I’ve been out for a week and have paperwork I need to do before my first patient.”
“I’m not a phone person.”
“Oh,” she said, “My bad. I can let you go. I didn’t mean to bother you with my text.”
I explained, “I’m up for this all-night conversation if it can be in person.”
“In person?”
“I can be at your house in a few minutes.”
She laughed. “Is that your way of getting over here to sneak between my sheets.”
“If only you used them.”
She laughed harder than I ever heard her laugh before. “For your information, my sheets are clean and neatly on the bed. Another thing I accomplished today.”
“Is that an invite to get between them?”
“No.” I heard her moving around. “I mean, not exactly. Not tonight.”
“We can talk. On the couch.” I added, “At the counter.” I stood and searched the room for my keys and wallet. “On your front porch even.”
“Sounds like you don’t care where.”
“If you only knew,” I joked.
“I’ll see you soon then.”
I couldn’t get around Phoenix like I could Dallas, or Knoxville. But the way I ducked and dodged lights to get to Gigi in under fifteen minutes deserved an award. I knocked on her door and waited for her to open it.
Her hair pulled into a ponytail. A pair of baggy sweats and a tank top made me want to get comfortable with her. The tense smile made me tilt my head to the side though.
“Did you race over here?”
I hunched my shoulder as she moved to the side. “There wasn’t much traffic,” I lied.
She stepped aside and as I followed, we had to step around a stack of boxes. “Excuse that mess. Should be gone soon.”
“He’s coming to get it?” The thought of her seeing him again made my muscles tense. I didn’t realize my fist clenched until she tried to take my hand to pull me down onto the couch.
“He is.” She watched me. “I haven’t told him to get it yet. That can wait,” she said, “I don’t even know if it’s anything he needs. Knowing him, he’d replace it all anyway.”
“What I’m hearing is I should pack it in my trunk and haul it to a dumpster.”
She laughed and rested her head on my shoulder. “Not exactly.”
“’Cause I would.” I elaborated, “Tonight, if I need to. Have me at the dump like I’m doing some criminal activity.”
“I could see the headlines now, ‘Phoenix Fury player rids remains at the local landfill.’”
I shook my head. “The stories they can come up with would amaze you.” I thought of all the warnings Corinne gave me. The things she told me to be aware of with journalists around. Or THOTs, as she called them, and their phone. “My sister is a journalist.”
“She is?” Her head jerked back. “I’m not sure why that is a surprise.” She laughed.
