Page 11 of Inferno

“Dinner was fun last night; I’d like to do it again soon if you want to?” Parker says the moment she pulls the recovery truck onto the street.

“I’d like that. I’m not great with new people, but…” I don’t want to admit that I’ve never had a friend or gush over how much I want to beherfriend. So instead, I press my lips together, not wanting to make myself sound like even more of an idiot than I already have.

“I don’t know why, but it feels like we’ve known each other before, not like we only met yesterday,” she confesses with a small smile, and she sounds almost as happy about that as I feel.

“Yes,” I agree quickly, mirroring her smile back at her.

Neither of us speaks for a moment, and I wonder if I somehow made it awkward, but then her lips curl into a wide smirk. “Soooo,” she drags out the word. “What did you think of Anders?”

My eyes go wide and I blurt, “He’s terrifying.” Then immediately slap my hand over my mouth.

“Like terrifyingly hot? Because that man is gorgeous,” she says on a giggle.

I wasn’t talking about how good-looking he is, although there’s no denying he’s absolutely gorgeous. “He looks like heshould be in that show,Vikings.I’ve never met anyone with hair that naturally blond,” I admit, feeling heat fill my cheeks.

“Do you like him?” she asks tentatively.

“You never finished telling me about Danny,” I say in deflection.

“I was talking about Anders,” she says, turning the conversation straight back to the man who ravished me in my dreams last night.

“Yeah, but you were in the middle of telling me what happened between you guys when they showed up last night. So, you have to finish first,” I say with a smile, hoping and praying that she takes the bait and doesn’t make me talk about all the confusing things Anders makes me feel.

After we tow the broken-down car back to the garage, I head into the office and spend the rest of the day preparing invoices, organizing the paperwork for the next day, and sending out reminder texts to the customers who are scheduled to bring their cars in later in the week.

Working at the garage isn’t taxing, but I enjoy the quiet office and relaxed environment. After I graduated college and started working with the temp agency, I spent months flitting from company to company, covering vacation time and unexpected sickness, but the work rarely lasted more than a week at a time until I came here.

Bay and Penn Barnett are both really great people, and if there was a way that I could figure out how to take the permanent job they’ve offered me, I would. Unfortunately, the two-hour round-trip bus trip is exhausting and expensive, and rent for an apartment in Rockhead Point is more than triple what I pay for my place in Bozeman. Even if I could afford the monthly rental cost, it’d take me at least a year to save the money for the first and last months’ deposit.

When the clock hits six p.m. I close down my computer, double check all my paperwork is in order, then head into the breakroom to grab my backpack from my locker. Both Bay and Parker are still working on cars when I step into the shop. “Hey, do you need me to stay until you’re finished?” I ask Bay.

“No, it’s fine. I’ll let Mr. Waverman and Mrs. Cruz know that they need to come back in the morning to settle up,” Bay assures me. “See you tomorrow.”

“Okay, see you tomorrow,” I say, waving goodbye as I step out onto the sidewalk.

The sun has dipped low in the sky by the time I get to the bus stop. The next bus won’t be here for twenty minutes, so I sit down on a bench and pull out my book. Focusing on the print, I try to lose myself in the story, but every few minutes I lose track of the words and check my surroundings instead.

I don’t know why, but a part of me thought I might see Anders again today. It’s stupid to imagine he’d seek me out, but the lingering effects of last night’s dreams have plagued me all day, and even though I’ve thrown myself into my work, he’s been constantly on my mind.

Deep down, I know that a man like Anders would never be interested in me, but my reaction to him and the fantasy I had about him last night shocked me. I think a part of me hoped to see him today so I could prove to myself that my response to him was an aberration, a one-off, and not me developing an unhealthy crush on a man who may not even be into men and who is so far out of my league we’re barely even playing the same sport.

He’s the NFL, and I’m peewee football. There’s no comparison.

When my bus arrives, I’m grateful to climb aboard and sink down into my seat. But as the bus pulls away from the curb,I swear I see a glimpse of a broad back and white-blond hair standing on the opposite side of the road.

By the time I get back to my apartment, I’m exhausted and a little sad. Last night, I had dinner with a new friend and met a man who provoked a very unexpected reaction from me. Tonight, the only plans I have are a bowl of ramen and the hope that my upstairs neighbors haven’t decided to finally change the password on their Wi-Fi.

Closing the front door behind me, I twist all of my locks into place, then exhale wearily. Normally, I don’t mind being alone, but tonight the silence of my tiny, empty apartment seems to echo through me, reminding me over and over again of just how isolated from the outside world I’ve made myself.

If I had a TV, I’d put it on just to fill the silence of my loneliness, but electronics are expensive, and so is cable. I have an old laptop my guidance counselor gave me to make sure I could finish school, but it’s laggy and not super reliable, even if the screen is bigger than the one on my cell phone.

When my upstairs neighbors on the third floor moved in, they had a family emergency and needed someone to take care of their cat. They put a note up on the small notice board in the lobby asking for help and offering to pay someone to feed and check on it for them.

I marched straight up the stairs and told them I could help. Fluffkins the cat is adorable. He’s an old, sleepy tabby cat who is more than content to spend an hour a night curled up on my lap. In exchange for me checking the cat in the morning then spending a little time with him in the evening, they paid me twenty bucks a day and told me I was welcome to use the Wi-Fi and the TV while I was there.

They were out of town for five days, so I made a hundred bucks, spent an hour a night watching TV, and connected my cell to their Wi-Fi. On the first day, I realized that their Wi-Fi connection stretches all the way to the basement. Since then, my cell automatically connects to their router every time I come home, and even though it’s been well over two years, they don’t seem to have noticed that I’m still using it.

I know it’s dishonest, but I make sure not to take advantage. I don’t use a lot of data and usually only allow myself an hour watching YouTube before I go to bed. I don’t know if they know and just don’t care, or if they have no idea, but either way, I do my best to help them if they ever need it. I take in packages for them if I’m home and always say yes if they need someone to help with the cat.

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