Page 43 of You Spin Me

The guys nod slowly, like three wise men.

When I finally hear Cal say my name, he sounds very far away. “Hii.”

“Jess?”

“Thas me.”

“Are you okay?”

“Yep. Sssorry I din’ call ear—earl… Ha-ha! Earl. That’s you! I’ll rest on you for a minute. Your arm is hard, Earl.”

“Jess?”

“Hi, Cal! How’r you?”

“Are you drunk, Jess?”

“I am,” I whisper. “But don’ worry. I don’ haf to drive, and these boys will take care o’ me.”

“What boys? Where are you?”

Cal sounds mad. “Don’t be mad. I’m good. I’m a gooder girl than you think.”

“I’m not mad, I’m—fuck. I have to fix something. Don’t go anywhere.”

“I tol’ you I don’ have to go… Here.” Push phone out of my way. Nestle into hard, warm pillow. “You tell ’im.”

CAL

It takes way too fucking long to reset everything after one of the ad carts refuses to play. By the time I get back to the phone, my heart is racing and I’m wondering if I can get one of my brothers to find this theater and rescue Jess.

“Jess? Are you still there?”

“No, uh, this is Tim.”

“Where’s Jess?”

“Jess seems to have passed out.”

“Listen to me, Tim. If you do anything to hurt her, I will find you and make you regret the day you were born.”

“Whoa, man. You need to calm down. Jess is fine. We’ve all had a long day. She had some whiskey—probably more than she should’ve—but we’ll get her to bed, and she’ll sleep it off.”

“By herself,” I growl.

“Yes, by herself, Mr. Jess-doesn’t-even-know-who-you-are-to-her. If you’re going to be such a protective dick, maybe you should let her know you’re in love with her. Maybe you should trust her not to get drunk with assholes. Good night.”

And then he hangs up on me.

And I throw the phone across the room.

At the endof my shift, I’m still so agitated from the phone call with Jess that I take the long way home with Blondie. I don’t usually visit the homeless camp with food on Friday nights because it’s such a busy night for Phil that his leftovers are minimal, but my feet take me in that direction anyway. Thankfully, we’re having a little January thaw, so I won’t have to worry too much about the guys. Phil said something the other night about looking into other options for them. Not sure what he was talking about, but getting more people indoors for the winter would be good.

There seems to be a fire lit under the bridge where Walt and crew hang out—probably not a good idea. Not safe, and it’ll draw the attention of the cops. When I get closer, I can see that it’s a few young men I don’t recognize who’ve lit a fire. Then Walt steps into the circle of light, pointing at the fire and shaking his head.

When one of the guys pushes Walt, I don’t even think. I go straight for him. Blondie at my side, barking like she’s going to kill the assholes. They scatter, except for one who’s too busy going through Walt’s shopping cart. The fucker.

Blondie keeps the others at bay while I haul this jerk up by the scruff of his neck. “Drop it, you asshole.”

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