“Yes, boss?”
“Is she okay?”
“I think so. She hauled the food cart into the bedroom and locked herself in there. Want me to check?”
“No.”
I end the call, and not in the mood to search through the past week’s messages, I shoot Rosie a text.
Adriano: Give me Laurie’s phone number again.
Rosie: Say the magic words and the genie will grant your wish.
I let out an audible sigh.
Adriano: Please.
Rosie: Please what?
“Christ, Rosie will be the death of me,” I mutter.
Adriano: Please with a fucking cherry on top.
Rosie: Now that wasn’t so hard lol.
A second later, the number comes through, and I program it into my phone.
After pressing dial, I listen as the call connects. It rings a couple of times before my butterfly answers, “Hello?”
“Did you eat?”
“Ah? Adriano?”
I walk in the direction of the old oak tree so I’ll have some privacy. “Yes. Did you eat?”
“Yes. The food was delicious… Thank you.”
Silence falls between us, and for several seconds I just listen to her breathing.
Eventually she asks, “Are you still there?”
“Yes.” I glance up at the huge branches where the tree house is. Georgi, Augusto, and I used to spend endless hours up there.
Unable to think of anything else, I ask the first thing that comes to mind. “Why did you date that asshole?”
Laurie is quiet for a moment. “I don’t know. I guess I was stupid.” A heavy sigh comes over the line, and her voice sounds fragile. “Austin was nice in the beginning.”
“Which tells me he wasn’t nice in the middle and at the end,” I grumble, anger instantly rippling beneath my skin. “What did he do to you?”
“Oh, it wasn’t like that. He wasn’t abusive. He just… didn’t care.”
“In my experience, people who don’t care are cold and cruel. You don’t have to physically hurt someone to abuse them.”
Laurie doesn’t say anything, and as I begin to frown, I hear her sniffle. Her voice is hoarse when she talks again. “Sorry, it’s all so fresh.”
Hating that I even have to ask the question, I growl, “Do you miss him?”
“Oh, hell no.” At first she sounds disgusted, but then she suddenly lets out an incredulous-sounding chuckle. “I so did not expect to have this conversation with you.”