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“Nope. Not that I’m aware of. Take her to the morgue and do what you do,” he said and hung up.
His fist pounded the steering wheel.
“Fuck me!”
It never ended.
He was still cleaning up his father’s mess.
If he’d gotten this call months ago, he’d sit on it until the time was right.
Then he’d tell Bella and not worry as much as he was going to now.
Because Holly had reentered Bella’s life and given her some kind of small hope.
Not even small. More like a pinhead’s worth.
But it was enough for an impressionable teen.
He didn’t hesitate to hit Marly’s name on his phone, surprised when she answered right away.
“How did the appointment go?” she asked. “I thought for sure I would have heard from you before now.”
“I didn’t want to bother you.”
“Bother me anytime you want. If I can answer I will. What’s wrong? Your voice is tense.”
There didn’t seem to be any hiding from her and he wondered why he even tried anymore.
No reason to ease into this either. “Holly is dead.”
“What?” she asked. “When? How?”
“I just got the call. They found her in an alley. She had her phone on her and my name in the contacts. They recognized it and called.”
“Poor Bella,” she said. “Where are you?”
“Heading home now with food.”
“I’ll meet you there,” she said. “I’ll take the rest of the day off.”
“I can’t ask you to do that.”
“You’re not asking. And I’m telling you. You need me there as much as she is going to. Wait until I get there before you say anything.”
“Don’t you have things to do?”
“I don’t care,” she said firmly. “This is one of those times where I know what I need to do whether or not you do. See you in thirty minutes.” Then she disconnected the call.
She was right. He needed her.
He’d needed her a lot in the past week and, every time, she’d been there the best way she could be.
He understood her as much as she did him.
Marly pulled into the driveway eighteen minutes later.
He’d been standing in the kitchen the entire time since he got home, the groceries he’d been putting away at a snail’s pace finally done while he killed the time to not go see Bella in the living room.
