Sid didn’t scream. He went to work, finishing the pumpkin field display, then returning to regular duties, missing Dante’s quiet efficiency almost as much as he missed his company. The absent palpitations left room for a dragging sensation, a dark weight around his neck that was at odds with the blazing sun that beat down on his shoulders. Periodically, he checked his phone, but Dante remained offline, and Sid’s calls didn’t connect.
The bad feeling in Sid’s chest expanded as the hours ticked away. His worry sharpened, and he moved mindlessly around the estate, scouting for jobs that Dante hadn’t already done without needing to be asked.
He came up blank until he reached the duck pond. It was close enough to the main house that Dante avoided it, though Sid was fairly convinced the real reason was that he didn’t like the ducks.
Regardless, the reeds used for the natural filtration system needed cutting back.
Sid got to work, grateful for something to do with his restless hands. He sank into the work, tunnel vision descending as he hacked away at the plants he’d let get overgrown in recent months. His shoulders ached, but it was a good pain. A healthy pain. He welcomed it, cursing only the fact that he was having a good day without the one person he wanted to share it with.
“Bloody hell, it looks bald without all those tall things.”
Sid startled.
Benjamin was beside him, grinning, though he looked a little perplexed. “I thought we needed the reeds. Isn’t that why you argued with me about them for two hours solid when I happened to mention they looked untidy?”
Sid stared, unseeing, at the mess he’d made of the pond, frowning as his vision came together and he realised he’d basically scalped it.Oops. “You were right. They were untidy, so I fixed it. Happy now?”
“Um. I suppose. Are you okay?”
“Yup.”
“Where’s Dante?”
“What do you care?”
Benjamin’s brows rose. He was used to Sid’s brutal banter, but the harshness in Sid’s response seemed to catch him off guard. “I always care where my staff are. Besides, I need to know where he is because his probation officer just called. He’s on his way for an unscheduled visit.”
“Why?”
“It’s part of the process,” Benjamin said. “Otherwise he’d only see what Dante wanted him to see.”
Sid scrambled to his feet, using Benjamin’s slim shoulders as a prop. “How come you get the magic phone call then? How is that fair?”
“He needs letting in.” Benjamin stood too. “Unless we want him to buy an entrance ticket for doing his job. What’s the matter? Why are you freaking out?”
Sid swung his gaze around, searching first for Dante—right, because he’s going to pop up now when he’s been gone all night—and then for the lean profile of the man from the probation service, but all he saw were staff and members of the public. No Rami Whatever the Fuck his name was.
And no Dante.
Still.
He’s not fucking here.
“Sid?”
“I’m not freaking out.” Sid shoved Benjamin aside and stomped out of the mud he’d been kneeling in all morning. “I’m just pissed off no one told me that prick was coming. I sent Dante into town for me.”
“Dante went into town? I thought that was yesterday?”
“What?”
“I saw him.” Benjamin eyed Sid as though he’d never seen him before. “Walking down the hill when I was leaving.”
“You didn’t think to offer him a lift?”
“Of course I thought about it, and I concluded I was the last person Dante wanted to sit in a car with, so I spared us both the awkward conversation.”
On any other day, Benjamin’s wounded expression might’ve made Sid laugh, but there was no humour to be found in this crap fuck of a day. The conditions of Dante’s release required him to be available to the probation service and attend his scheduled appointments. His absence could be bullshitted away in the short term, but by fuckinglunchtimethe rope would run out.