Page 40 of His Build

Then she spotted the note on the bed. She went over, hesitant. It was in sprawling ink on the motel stationary.

* * *

Hadto go to the site—concrete guy coming back early—you scared them straight. I’ll make sure the color is the right one. You rest your beautiful self here… maybe we can grab dinner again tonight?

—Gray

* * *

Lucy’s stomach twisted.He was taking over and making plans.

Then she took a breath.

You’re being ridiculous.He could deal with the concrete. He was being kind.

The glow bloomed in her belly again. She’d work from home today; she didn’t even need to be onsite. She told herself she had lots to do with her clients and the Jones project—all things that needed to be done online and on the phone.

Maybe… just maybe it might be okay to have dinner with the man again.

She was grabbing a bagel from the pack in her miniature kitchenette cupboard when her phone buzzed in the pocket of her robe.

Sadie:Lucy OMG 911

Lucy dropped her bagel and tapped Sadie’s name, heart thudding in her chest.

Sadie picked up on the first ring. “Lucy, thank god!”

“Sadie, what’s wrong?” Lucy was picturing the worst—Sadie, sprawled on the floor with two broken legs. Her apartmentbrokeninto, all her belongings smashed.

“It’s Mrs. Devonshire’s cat!” Sadie exclaimed. “I lost her!”

Lucy held the phone against her chest for a half a second while she silently cursed her little sister for scaring the absolute shit out of her.

“Lucy? Are you still there?” Sadie was calling from the phone when she put it back to her ear.

Lucy sighed. “Tell me what’s going on.”

“Mrs. Devonshire went to Connecticut two days ago to visit her niece for the week. She asked me to come over to feed Blinky and change his box. The first time I went over there, he ran right out the door and out the fire escape.”

“I told you he did that,” Lucy said.

“Yeah, but you also told me he comes back.” “He hasn’t been back for the whole time. Like, 72 hours.”

They went through all the possible places Blinky could be, Lucy wracking her brain to think of where she’d seen him outside their floor. The laundry room. By the dumpster outside the sushi restaurant down the street.

But when Sadie called back two hours later, she said there was no sign of him anywhere.

“And Cliff is being an asshole—he says it’s my fault!”

Anger flared in Lucy’s chest. “Of course he’d say that,” she spat out before she could stop herself. She wrung her hands together, looking out over the sliding glass windows to the lake. The note from Graydon still sat on her bedside table.Dinner tonight?

“I’m coming back,” Lucy said. Relief flooded through her at the decision. Followed quickly by guilt.

“Oh, Lucy, you shouldn’t,” Sadie said, even though Lucy could hear her sister’s own relief in her voice.

“I’ll be there this afternoon.”

After hanging up, Lucy tossed some clothes in a bag—she’d have to stay at least the night back at home.

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