By the time we were done, my mouth actually hurt from speaking. I hadn’t talked that much in longer than I could remember.
“Okay. This is a good start.”
“Start?” I asked, letting out a strange snorting laugh.
“Believe it or not, yeah. Need a lot of details for a job this big. Tomorrow, I am going to need to know the schedules of your brothers. If they have them.”
“Okay,” I agreed. “Ah, will I… will you be at the coffee shop tomorrow?”
There was the shortest of pauses, but I felt my stomach dropping in that space between words.
“Yes. But with my brother. We will try to get a spot at two different tables,” he said. “And when you show up, August will move to sit with me. We know you are going to be watched here and there. We need to be careful.”
“Okay. Yeah. I don’t want to provoke Colin. He’s too unstable.”
“We are going to try to get this shit figured out as quickly as possible, so you don’t have to worry too much longer.”
“That would be great. It’s all sort of surreal right now, so it hasn’t really sunk in yet that it could all be truly over.”
“Not could be. Will be,” he insisted.
“Yes. Will be,” I agreed.
“Alright. Go get some rest, babe. I will see you tomorrow.”
“Goodnight,” I said, then charged my phone as I went through the motions of the night.
All during that, and when I eventually climbed into bed, there was really only one thing on my mind.
Not my freedom.
Not my plans for the future.
No.
Seeing Massimo again.
What the heck was that about?