10
Sid had never given much thought to the passage of time until MS had come to call, and his world had narrowed to the discovery of odd symptoms and finding a place for them in his strange new life. The way days could disappear was one. Being unaware of it was another.
“It’sSaturday?”
“Yup,” Anna said cheerfully. “I thought you’d figured that out, given that I’m here in the middle of the day.”
“Fuck off.”
“You fuck off.”
Sid scowled and went back to deadheading the pansies in the pots by his back door. Truth be told, he hadn’t thought much about how Anna had come to be annoying him so early in the day. Knowingwhywas enough.
On cue, Sid’s fingers spasmed, but he paid them no heed. Of all the shit he’d dealt with over the last few days, it was nothing.
“So...” Anna came closer and took a seat on the upturned bucket Sid used as a table when he sat outside. “I met Dante the other day.”
“Did you?” Sid tried for bland, but Anna was perceptive enough that it was a wasted effort. “What did you think? He doesn’t seem like a big bad criminal, does he?”
Anna made a noncommittal noise.
Sid caved immediately and gave her his full attention. “What does that mean?”
“It means he did seem... I don’t know, dangerous, somehow, but I thought he was sweet too.”
“Sweet?”
“Yeah. Sweet. He was worried about you.”
Sid already knew that because he had the vaguest recollection ever of Dante telling him. What he couldn’t remember waswhenor why Dante had stopped coming to see him just as his faculties had returned to him enough to stop wittering gibberish instead of coherent sentences. The need to find out was almost compelling enough to make him break the week of rest Benjamin had enforced on him, but Sid knew his body well enough to be fairly certain that seeking Dante out was a recipe for another disaster.I don’t want him to see me tripping over myself all the time. Is that too much to ask?
“He’s way more attractive than I’d prepared myself for too.”
Sid refocused on Anna. “What?”
“Oh, come on,” she said. “Don’t tell me you haven’t noticed all the brooding hotness smouldering in those hazel eyes. If I hadn’t been so concerned about you myself, I’d have swooned into a puddle on the ground.”
“That’s dramatic.”
“And true. Maybe that’s what happened to you. Your assistant’s good looks overcame you. There’s a name for that in historical romance novels.”
It was close enough to the mark that Sid glowered at the wet soil at his feet and considered flinging a handful in his sister’s face. “It wasn’t that. I already told you I forgot to drink enough water, and then I pushed too hard before I got round to breakfast.”
“You never told me why, though.” Anna slipped off the bucket and knelt at Sid’s side. “And don’t give me any crap about checking the irrigation systems. I’m not falling for that again.”
“It was true last time. Why else do you think I wound up face down in a puddle the size of a fucking football pitch?”
“Sid.”
“Anna.”
“You’re a dick.”
“I know.”
“So...?”
Sid sighed and dropped his secateurs. “So nothing. I—I, fuck. My mind was on something else and I didn’t realise how hot it was until it was too late. I’m sorry, okay? I didn’t mean to worry you.”