Page 31 of Forget Me Not
Message received, loud and clear. He smiled back nervously and shot her a two-finger salute.
Bastien’s mood improved when he got to work and remembered it was processing day. It didn’t matter how exhausted he was, processing day was still his favorite.
When he slid into Hal’s office, making a show of presenting the man with a freshly procured Elvis—because nothing says “sorry I bailed on you yesterday” like peanut butter and banana—he was met with a warm laugh and Hal rustling his hair before they set out for the carving room.
When they broke for lunch Bastien checked his phone and found six messages from Syve which he hastily replied to.
Syve:
Hey, can you come over tonight?
I mean, do you want to come over tonight?
To talk or whatever, in case that wasn’t clear
Because I didn’t specify
Let me try that again
Hey, I don’t have anything going on tonight, if you’re free would you want to come over so we could talk more?
Bas:
That works for me, sorry it took so long to reply, it’s been a busy morning. I can walk over after work?
Syve:
Yeah, of course. I’ll leave the front door unlocked; I’ve got this project I really need to work on so I’ll be downstairs.
Bas:
Okay, cool. See you around six-ish
Syve:
Six-ish is great
Bastien looked at his watch, 1:00 p.m. Great, he only needed to stay focused for another five hours. Just as he was going to slip his phone back in his pocket it lit up with a call. Cyrus. He groaned, rolled his neck, then answered.
“Yeah.”
“Damn, you’re just a ball of fucking sunshine, aren’t you?” Bas could hear his smile through the phone.
“Just busy, Cy. I’m assuming you need something?”
“Yeah, north, south, east, or west?”
Bastien blinked a few times before asking, “What?”
“I’m feeling pent up, gotta burn off some energy. Which way would you go?”
Understanding registered.
“Doesn’t matter around here, really. I usually go west. Just be careful if you go south, lots of tourists with cameras. The entire town is surrounded by National Forest, so it’s mostly safe.”
Cyrus grunted an acknowledgment on the other end of the line.
“Oh, and Cy?”
