“It’s just…not completely on the up and up,” I said as I tried to buy a little time for a plausible story. I was falling into a pit of lies, and I needed something simple so I could keep it straight. I had already said far more than I had planned to say.
“Doing what?” he pressed. He wasn’t going to let this go until I gave him something he would take to be me opening up – trusting him more. What I had said before was in the files – he could have read it already. He needed something new.
The story actually came pretty quickly.
“Well, it’s just…” I hesitated and rubbed my fingers in my eyes. I was surely the perfect picture of angst. “It’s not totally legitimate, you know? I’m doing some roofing work for this guy’s brother. Strictly cash, all under the table, you know?”
“Yes, I know.” He did a wonderful job of not showing his disappointment. I was just pleased he bought it.
“You’re not pissed?” I asked, supposedly surprised.
“Not at all,” he said. “I can’t say I think it is the best thing for you because legitimate work will always be in your best interest, but I’m not pissed, as you put it.”
“My Marine buddies would have a fit,” I said. It was the truth, or at least would have been if I had any Marine buddies. “Everything has to be on the up-and-up, you know? It’s a matter of pride.”
“And does doing that kind of work hurt your pride?”
“Yeah, a little,” I admitted with a shrug. In my mind, I considered what I actually did to make my illegitimate cas
h. “I know it is ultimately illegal and immoral, but if I don’t do it, someone else will. The gym wouldn’t hire me back since I didn’t exactly tell them I was going to be gone for a while.”
“So where did you go on your trip?”
“Arizona.”
“You went to the desert on vacation?”
I looked up at him, and we just stared at each other for a minute.
“Yeah…um…I guess I did.”
“And you’re wondering why the dreams came back?”
“Well, now that you put it like that…”
I leaned forward and rested my forearms over my knees. The throw rug in Mark’s office really wasn’t all that interesting, but I stared at the blue, swirly patterns in it anyway.
“Did your vacation remind you of the Middle East?”
“I didn’t really think about it while I was there,” I admitted. “I mean – it wasn’t the same at all. Just a little cabin, me and the dog…it never even crossed my mind while I was there.”
“What did you do while you were there?”
“Nothing,” I said. It was accurate enough.
“Sounds like an exciting vacation.”
I glanced up and raised an eyebrow at the sarcasm, but Mark wasn’t apologetic.
“I wasn’t looking for any excitement,” I said. “I’ve had enough excitement in my life. I just hung out in the cabin. I didn’t go anywhere or do anything, really.”
“Did anything significant happen while you were in Arizona?”
My eyes dropped back to the rug, and my tongue darted over my lips. I could still taste her there, the brunette beauty who stumbled across my path in the middle of nowhere, spent the night in my bed, and then disappeared from my life.
Lia.
Did she ever go back to that rickety old cabin? Did she call my name, wander inside, and find the lame-ass excuse for a note I left her?