Page 23 of Lost With My Enemy

We drive to the rental in silence. It's a farmhouse apartment outside Medicine Hat, the last stop before Calgary tomorrow. One bedroom, pull-out couch, a kitchen that smells like someone's grandmother. Normally this would be the part of the evening where we settle in, make tea, sit somewhere and talk until neither of us can keep our eyes open. The part I've started looking forward to more than the driving.

Elise goes straight to the bedroom with her suitcase. The door closes. Not a slam. A deliberate, quiet click.

My duffel lands on the pull-out with more force than necessary. The couch springs protest. The room is small, dimly lit, and the walls have framed cross-stitch samplers with phrases like BLESS THIS HOME and HAPPINESS IS HOMEMADE.

My phone is in my hand before I've decided to call anyone.

"Tell me I'm not an idiot," I say when Griffin picks up.

"Context?"

"Meridian offered me Patagonia. Six months. October start."

"Bro, that's massive. Congratulations."

"Thanks."

"You don't sound like a guy who just got offered Patagonia."

"I told Elise about it, and she said I should take it, and then she went to bed."

A long pause. In the background, I can hear faint music. Griffin's always got music on. "What did you want her to say?"

The cross-stitch sampler on the opposite wall says BLESS THIS HOME in yellow thread. The stitching is uneven on the H.

"I don't know."

"Yeah you do."

"I wanted her to say don't go."

Griffin doesn't respond immediately, which means he's thinking, which is unusual and therefore significant.

"Jax. You've known this woman for eleven days."

"Twelve."

"You've known her for thirteen days, and you wanted her to ask you to stay."

"When you say it out loud, it sounds insane."

"It sounds honest. There's a difference." A beat. "Wait. No, there isn't. It sounds insane AND honest. Both."

"Thanks, Griff. Very helpful."

"What are you going to do?"

"Take the job. Obviously."

"Obviously."

"It's Patagonia."

"It is."

"Six months, full kit, flagship series."

"All true."