Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 73930 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 370(@200wpm)___ 296(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73930 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 370(@200wpm)___ 296(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
“What’s going on?” she asks.
“What do you know about Autumn’s guitar?” Garrett asks her.
Before she even answers, it’s clear from her expression that she doesn’t know anything. I closed my bedroom door before I left, so she wouldn’t even have seen the guitar unless she was either responsible or complicit, and she doesn’t appear to be either of those things. “Her guitar?” she asks, her eyes flicking back and forth between me and Garrett in confusion.
“My guitar was destroyed this morning while I was in the shower,” I tell her. “Have you seen Lindsey?”
At this, her eyes go wide. “No, she hasn’t gotten home yet. You think she …?”
“It couldn’t have been anyone else,” I say.
“Your guitar…” she repeats. “But what about your show tomorrow night?”
“I got a new one,” I say. “And I’m moving out tonight so I don’t have to worry about something happening to it.”
Kelly’s eyes are still wide with surprise as all of this sinks in. “Oh, okay. Oh my gosh. Can I help with anything?”
“I think we’ve got it,” I say, looking around at the men, who are bigger and stronger than most moving crews likely are. “Would you let me know if Lindsey confesses to you?”
Her eyes widen again before she eventually nods her head vigorously. “I’ll play dumb and see what I can get her to tell me.”
“Thanks. I appreciate it.”
When the men and I are up in my room, Adrian asks, “Will you take Lindsey to court?”
“If she doesn’t pay me back … I guess. I don’t know what that all entails. Not sure it would be worth hiring a lawyer, and all the costs?” I say.
“There’s small claims court,” Duke says. “You don’t need a lawyer for that. Did you take any pictures yet?”
“Pictures?” I ask.
“Of the damage. Best to get pictures before we pack everything up,” he explains.
What a great idea. I document the state of my guitar and my clothes with both still images and video. After that, I search the rest of the room, but thankfully don’t find anything else that’s been harmed.
As soon as I finish inspecting my closet, Adrian and Garrett begin loading my clothes into the bags. Meanwhile, Duke and Trevor carefully pack the remains of my old guitar, take the sheets off of my bed and begin disassembling it.
“Do you have room to store all of this at your house, Garrett?” I ask.
“You can stay at our place,” Duke says. “I have an extra room available.”
“That’d be great. Duke’s place is nearby,” Trevor says as I look to Garrett for his reaction, which is hard to read.
“Are you sure?” I ask Duke.
“We’d love to have you there,” Adrian says as Duke nods.
“Maybe that would be better …” I say to Garrett. “More space, and we wouldn’t have to worry about work finding out that I was staying with you.”
“Whatever you want to do,” he says in a tone that sounds intentionally neutral. I wonder if, like me, he was imagining us sharing a bed tonight. I loved sleeping with Adrian last night, and when I haven’t been sick with anger and worry about the Lindsey situation, I’ve been anticipating spending the night with Garrett, even though it would probably be better if I slept on his couch and didn’t get further involved in something that was so against the rules.
“I don’t want to impose on anyone,” I say to Duke, “but if you have extra space, I’d be grateful. I shouldn’t need to stay for long.”
“You can stay as long as you like,” Duke says.
26
Duke
Packing up Autumn’s stuff reminds me of being young, when everything I owned fit into one room. People are like pack rats, accumulating stuff as life goes on, until you get to be thirty-six and wonder where all of the shit you own came from. I hate to think how much more shit I’ll have when I’m fifty.
Autumn actually has nice things, not the makeshift sort of furniture I had when I was her age. “Anything of yours in the rest of the house?” I ask her when we’re nearly done in her bedroom.
“Just a caddy in the bathroom and a few items in the kitchen. I can grab those on the way out.”
Part of me wants to get Autumn out of here as quickly as possible; the other part of me wants her piece of shit roommate to come home while I’m here so I can have a talk with her, though I’m guessing if the girl approaches the house, she’ll see my truck and stay away. Trevor and Adrian have been making trips down with the furniture and boxes, so it’s already loaded up and probably looking like a moving truck.
When we’re ready to leave, her other roommate is at the door to say goodbye to Autumn. She seems like a decent girl.