Chapter 39

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I could always tell what kind of mood Sophie was in by the way she answered the phone. A friendly, “Hi, how are you,” meant I had the all clear but if she skipped the greeting and launched straight into asking questions, that was usually a sign to proceed with caution. Considering how the rest of the day had gone--and the fact that Michael went to extreme lengths to avoid my gaze after we got back from lunch--I wasn’t particularly surprised when my call to Sophie that evening was met with, “What are you doing?”

I plugged my phone into my car’s auxiliary line so that Sophie’s voice echoed through the speakers. “About to drive home,” I replied, setting my phone down on the passenger’s seat and shifting into reverse. “You?”

 “Come over.”

It wasn’t a request so much as a command and I knew from her clipped tone that Michael had already talked to her about the outcome of his meeting with Walter and Richard. To his credit, as annoyed as Sophie may have been, Michael seemed equally, if not more, embarrassed by his inability to swing the situation back in his favor. I guessed that Sophie would want to rant about her frustration with Michael but the truth was that I felt bad for both of them; Michael had done what he’d thought was right and, on the whole, things had worked out pretty well. I hesitated, wondering if maybe it’d be better for her to calm down first, though in the time it took me to respond, Sophie sighed impatiently. “Parker?

“Sorry. Yeah, sure,” I said as I pulled out of the parking garage and inched my way onto the main road. “Do you have plans later or should I go home first and pick up a change of clothes?”

“Whatever.”

“Is that a yes or a no? I was twenty minutes late today, so if you want me to stay over I need to know now."

“Fine, yes, stay. Just get here quickly, okay?”

There was a hint of desperation in Sophie’s voice that mirrored the pleading whine Richard had used when he’d spoken to me earlier. “Alright,” I said, before saying goodbye and signaling to turn towards my apartment.

The lone silver lining of the day was that traffic was unusually light and it took less than an hour for me to gather some clean shirts and boxers, and then promptly jump in my car again to drive to Sophie’s house. I wondered if I should pick up dinner and decided to stop at a grocery store along the way. Despite my affinity for Top-Ramen and Pop-Tarts, my mom had managed to teach me how to cook a few things before I left for college and I figured that Sophie would appreciate the gesture if I made her something off my very short menu. Still, I made a mental note of the pizza delivery shops in the area in case my attempt at dinner ended up as burnt as her pancakes.

When I finally pulled up to Frank’s security hut, the old man offered a toothy smile. “Well, hello there,” he said, pushing the button to open the gate. “I haven’t seen you in a while.”

“Yeah, long time. How’ve you been?”

Beaming with pride, Frank patted his chest. “My daughter had a baby last week.”

“Oh, wow,” I said, slightly surprised. It had never occurred to me to think about what Frank did outside of working in the gatehouse but I should’ve realized that he had a family. “Congratulations.”

“Thank you. I’m going to see her after work.”

“That’s great,” I said, slowly lifting my foot off the brake. “Maybe next time you’ll have a picture to show me.”

“Sure will.”

I waved to the elderly gatekeeper before driving forward, slightly afraid of finding out just how bad of a mood Sophie was in. I pulled into a spot in front of her house and then took several deep breaths before killing my car’s engine and gathering my things, though I left my spare clothes folded in the backseat; I'd come back out to get them later. The walk to Sophie's front door felt like an eternity with the bags of groceries weighing on my arms and I set them down on the porch before ringing her doorbell.

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