Page 72 of Butterfly

“I’ll make an appointment with Jarvis.”

Both Jack and Green nodded, satisfied with his answer.

Ollie didn’t start his breakfast until Jonesy had returned to the table. He apologised; Jonesy forked Ollie’s sausage and ate it with a grin.

Ollie shot him a small smile back, knowing his apology had been accepted.

“Ah, Ollie,” Jarvis said, standing from his desk to welcome Ollie inside.

Ollie glanced around the office, frowning at the figurines. He swore they were different, the same orcs, goblins and horses, but in different poses.

Jarvis caught him looking and cocked his head. “I like to mix things up.”

“With the same things?”

Jarvis shrugged. “They’re from different series. They’ve been through different hardships. Onyx has lost his eye in this one, see?”

He pointed to the green orc wearing an eyepatch. “He doesn’t get his eye back until series seven when he visits The Garden of Greatness and has it returned to him after completing three challenges. It’s a red eye, not his natural green. I’ve got a figurine of that too.”

Ollie blinked.

“But I doubt you booked an appointment with me so I’d tell you that.”

“Erm. No.” Ollie took his seat. “How did you manage to see me at such short notice?”

“I had a cancellation.” Jarvis’s brow twitched. “And Ben—Captain said he was worried about you.”

“Captain?”

Jarvis hummed. “He was in here earlier, said you didn’t seem yourself at breakfast, so here you are. But first things first.”

Jarvis opened a drawer in his desk and took out a bowl of only orange smarties.

Ollie widened his eyes.

“They sell them in tubes of only orange now.” He placed them on the table. “And only pink. I get those ones for Captain.”

“Captain likes pink smarties?”

“He likes smarties, but not pink. He questioned the pink cardigan I sometimes wear, claiming it’s too feminine, so now he only has pink smarties. He needs to get over his anti-pink mindset.”

Ollie snorted. “You like Captain.”

“I do,” Jarvis replied, then glanced at the photograph on his desk. “Anyway, we’re not here to discuss Captain. You’re here to eat orange smarties and talk about you.”

Ollie took a handful and started crunching them.

Jarvis didn’t rush him. He looked content to lean back in his chair and wait, even if waiting ate up the entire session.

“My brother, Leo, contacted a barrister on my behalf about an appeal. The barrister, Howard Noble, thinks I’ve got a good chance of lowering my sentence, maybe even getting out of here altogether. Leo’s excited. It’s all he talks about when he visits now, what we’ll do when I get out of here, where we’ll go, what he wants to show me. I nod along and smile, and although I like the idea of doing it all, my heart’s not in it.”

He hung his head, breath catching on the admission he didn’t voice. His heart wasn’t in it because it was with someone else.

“Are you afraid the appeal will fail and leave him disappointed?”

“No.” Ollie bit his lip. “I’m afraid it will be a success.”

He squinted, waiting for confusion to mar Jarvis’s expression, but it didn’t change. He was open, engaged, waiting for Ollie to say more.

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