I kept an eye on her phone, certain that Brenda would react in some way. Surely the threat of a restraining order would get to her. But as we went back to a normal conversation and started getting ready to make dinner, the phone didn’t make a sound.
Pretty quickly, Faye caught me
looking. I was probably being pretty obvious about it.
“She’s not going to respond,” she said, balancing Gretchen on her hip. “That’s not her style.”
I set down my cutting knife. “What is?”
“She takes a couple days to mull over my response, or lack of one. Or maybe it takes her that long to line up an anonymous hook-up for a fake ad. I don’t know. Either way, just be on your guard for someone showing up here.”
“Got it.” I gave her a kiss and kept it in the back of my mind.
* * *
Although the steep flights of stairs to her apartment always left us flushed and sweaty, Faye and I were still laughing as we reached the top. Today’s trip to the park with Gretchen had left us with a heap of new inside jokes.
“So if you’re not quite ready to try swinging, we’ll try the slide next time.”
I cut myself off as we rounded the top of the stairs and a man I’d never seen before came into sight. Faye stopped laughing half a second later.
The guy had a different vibe than the woman Brenda had sent early on. Whereas that one was older and unkempt, this one was around our age and clean-cut, dressed in a business suit and shoes that probably cost more than six months of our rent.
And yeah, the gender was different too… but still, there was no question as to who he might be.
Understanding crossed Faye’s face, and I stepped between her and the stranger before the man could see her. Faye had dealt with this her way plenty of times. Now it was my turn to try.
And if I failed, I’d follow through on that promise of a restraining order. I’d drag Faye down to the police station if I needed to. Enough was enough!
“Faye,” I said, “go stand on the landing.”
She looked at me, wordless, her hands moving instinctively to Gretchen in her sling.
“Take her and go.”
Her eyes narrowed, but she went a floor down. She’d be able to hear the conversation from here, but hopefully Gretchen wouldn’t catch on that something was wrong. Her getting upset was the exact opposite of what we needed.
I gave the stranger a grim smile, daring him to act before he could even open her mouth.
None of this was his fault, of course—he was just a pawn for this Brenda person—but I wasn’t too fond of him anyway. He’d had the nerve to think about having sex with Faye—my Faye. That alone was a good enough reason to dislike him.
“Hi,” the man said, actually offering his hand. “I’m Derek.”
I stared at Derek’s hand like it was a dead fish. Did he really think I was going to shake his hand? Introduce myself?
“Give me your phone,” I demanded instead.
“Excuse me?”
“Your phone, buddy-boy. Hand it over.”
The “buddy-boy” had slipped out of me unplanned. I kind of liked the way it sounded. Maybe I wasn’t just a babysitter-book nerd. Maybe I’d secretly had a badass hiding inside me all along!
Except Derek showed no inclination to hand his phone over, regardless of how tough I was being. “Why in God’s name would I do that?”
“Look, the woman you came here to fuck isn’t going to fuck you.”
Derek stared at me as if I’d just started speaking Greek.