Page 10 of Walking the Bird

Crossing the room, Zach sat on the edge of the coffee table in front of Alex. He and Kennedy had remained silent, yet supportive to Alex, despite Zach’s overwhelming desire to knock some sense into his friend weeks ago.

“Have you tried calling her office?”

“Yep,” Alex admitted in defeat, his chest aching at the possibility his marriage was over. “Some new girl, Autumn, answered the phone, said Eleni was out of the office for the next few weeks and left no emergency number to get in contact with her.”

“What about her parents, aren’t your families close?”

Alex knew Zach was trying to help, he’d done the same thing when Logan was fucking up with Harper. “I can’t,” he swallowed thickly, dropping his gaze to the shiny phone in his fingertips. “I can’t go to her father and admit I failed to honor my promise to make her my priority.”

Zach searched his mind for the right words to say, a preverbal life ring to toss at his friend to save him.

“Speaking of honoring promises,” Zach reached into his pocket, pulling out a wad of cash and offering it to Alex. “I forgot to give you this.”

Alex looked from the folded bills to Zach’s face, “What’s this for?”

“You helped me with Kennedy’s birthday presents, remember?”

Staring at the cash, Alex allowed his mind to drift back to the afternoon they flew back from Canada. Zach had punched the seat in front of him as he’d remembered Kennedy’s birthday was in a few days and he’d forgotten to buy her anything. Once they landed, Zach dragged Alex into a high-end lingerie store, only to have his credit card declined as it had expired the week prior. When Alex handed over his card, Zach swore up and down he would pay him back as soon as they found an ATM.

“I don’t want your money, I helped you because that’s what friends do.”

Tossing the cash to Alex’s lap, “Take it. The last thing I want is the thought of another man buying my wife the panties I ripped off her with my teeth.”

Pocketing the cash, Alex said a silent prayer of gratitude his wife didn’t share Kennedy’s taste in clothing. Eleni was sensible, from her comfortable shoes to her need to pay cash for everything. She was a saver to the extreme, happier to have money in the bank than knick-knacks collecting dust on the shelves. She shopped around for their big purchases and made it a habit of paying off their bills each month.

“Son of a bitch!” Alex shouted, rising to his feet as his thoughts registered in his mind.

“What?”

“Eleni pays our bills.”

Zach failed to understand the significance of Alex’s concern. “So?”

“She would have seen the charges.”

Standing to his full height, Zach crossed his arms over his chest as he stared down one of the most intelligent men he knew. “Dude, please tell me you told her they weren’t yours?”

Alex hooked his hands on his hips, allowing his head to fall back as he stared at the ceiling. “I didn’t go home after we returned. Matt called not long after I climbed into my car, asking if I could go to Mexico to help out a friend of his. I never got the chance.”

Closing his eyes, Alex began to pray Eleni hadn’t gone over the bill and simply paid it, ignoring the screaming voice inside his head telling him this was the reason she’d disappeared. It was time to swallow every ounce of Greek pride in his body and face the colossal mess he’d created.

“Well,” Zach began, a hint of an amused smile on his face. “I would recommend you spend tonight finding a way to come clean to your wife. Our plane leaves in less than eight hours, and I’m warning you, mess this up any further and I’ll help Eleni bury your body.”

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