Page 23 of Smoke and Fire
I nodded. Sounded about right.
Dagny studied me as she grabbed a salt shaker. “How ab-b-bout you, B-bash?”
“What about me?”
“You d-doing okay?”
“Yep.”
She eyed me with a gleam that meant she noticed something. Did she see my cagey energy? Could she tell that the weight of the world pressed on me?
“You still keep track of the Frolicking Moose?” I asked. Her inquisitive expression altered a little. She nodded. I leaned back. “The new girl. Dahlia. What’s your take?”
She blinked. “Oh. W-well. She’s really n-n-nice. Quick on her feet, learns fast, d-d-does things correctly. From what I understand, she’s been eager to t-take work, so that helped B-b-bethany and M-maverick transition out of Ellie leaving. Sh-she’s the only one th-there.”
Lifelong stutter aside, Dagny had graduated with a degree in construction management at the beginning of the year and taken on work at a local construction company. In the middle of all that, she’d married one of my best friends and made him the happiest deputy on the planet. All that change pushed her out of working at the coffee shop, but in such a small town, no one could entirely disappear.
“Her c-c-cousin is Sione,” Dagny continued, “the guy r-running Adventura Summer C-camp now. They’re p-p-pretty close.”
I nodded. Sione I didn’t know, but I’d heard rumors that Mark Bailey had turned over the operation of his summer camp to one of his trusted counselors. He worked on business from his cabin, with his wife, Stella. Mark and I knew each other out of sheer reputation. He and JJ had paved the path for the wild antics of the Merry Idiots. We’d looked up to him and his twin, JJ, in the weirdest ways possible.
Dagny tilted her head to the side.
“You know her?” she asked.
“Ran into her yesterday.”
And today,I mentally added,when I botched absolutely everything.
“Everything okay, B-bastian?” she asked again, and broke apart my thoughts. I shook my head to clear my head.
“Yeah. Fine.”
A dubious expression followed.
“Lizbeth Bailey,” I said next, unsuccessfully keeping the desperation from my tone. I shoved some translucent onions onto a triangle of potato. “What’s she up to these days?”
“New baby in a few months,” Hernandez said. He leaned back in his chair, the tips of his fingers toying with a sweating cup of milk. “Staying in a place in Jackson City. The bakery she started with her husband has been doing well.”
I swallowed hard.
Damn.
Confirmed details were hard. Everyone had a life. Inessa would soak up my day tomorrow, so there wouldn’t be time to search then either.
Were there online job postings I could search? Could I trust someone with my secret that I didn’t at least have eyes on? I knew Dahlia as much as any stranger on the internet, but at least we shared a common town. That built a little trust and safety.
The emails from Pri stacked in my mind, and the tightness in my chest started to return. Upcoming end-of-the-month bills. Dad’s update. Messages from the doctors that I’d been slowly listening to on my voicemail. News from Inessa’s nurse. I missed my family.
“How’s Vik?” I asked in a last-ditch attempt to distract myself.
The question came out a bit garbled. I cleared my throat and reached for my milk. Panic over my writing career gave way to utter terror. Would I have to out myself right now? What would Hernandez say? Did Inessa miss me?
The lack of control boiled.
Hernandez studied me. “Vik is fine. He talks about going to South America again soon, but he’s too much of a disaster to travel anywhere. You’re in charge of the retreat this year. Any great plans?”
“Not yet.” I swiped my lips with a napkin and avoided his gaze. I’d completely forgotten about the yearly Merry Idiot retreat. “Just getting through fire season, then I’ll tackle it.”
