Page 19 of Laid Bear

“You could have tried, but as I’ve already explained, the reception where we live is horrible. The phones are basically useless. The stretch of road we were on to get here is basically one dead zone. You might be lucky to get a call through, but it would drop within seconds.”

She calmed down. The explanation was reasonable enough. It took her a few seconds to figure out how the phone worked, but she managed to turn it on and dialed Bernice’s number.

“Hello?” her cousin answered after the third ring, sounding as if she’d run a marathon to get to the phone.

“Bernice, it’s Zora.”

“Girl, where the hell have you been? I’ve been calling your cell phone for a week and every time I call, it immediately goes to voicemail.”

“My phone died. Actually, I got into a bit of an accident.”

“Oh no! Are you okay?”

“I’m fine but my car isn’t. I’m not sure when I’ll be able to get up there.”

Her statement was met with silence.

“Hello?” Zora thought maybe the call had dropped.

“I’m still here. Uh, Zora, I couldn’t get in contact with you, so I promised the house to someone else. I’m sorry, but I thought you bailed on me.”

“After a week?”

“What would you do in my situation?”

Zora blew out a deep breath. While she believed Bernice could have held on to the place a bit longer, she could understand her cousin’s point of view. It did, however, underline once again how Zora didn’t have anyone who really cared if she were dead or alive. Instead of calling the police and filing a missing person’s report, her cousin had promised her rental property to someone else. It made her feel very replaceable.

“What about the job at your shop?”

“Well, I have a friend helping me out now. She just got laid off a few weeks ago and has been looking for work.”

“So you hired her instead?”

“I’m sorry. But look, you’re welcome to stay at my place for as long as it takes to get on your feet. I know times are hard, girl, so whatever you need, I’ll help you out.”

“Okay. Thank you. Can I get back to you on that?”

“Of course. Take your time, girl. Well, I have to run. I have some important business to handle.”

“Hey baby, what the hell is taking you so long? Come back here and take care of this dick,” a male voice called out from the background.

“Goodbye, Bernice.” Zora hung up the phone, knowing that would probably be the last time she spoke to her cousin for a long time.

She looked over at Gavin, whose eyes filled with sympathy. She had a sneaking suspicion that he’d not only heard her end of the conversation, but Bernice’s too. In the back of her mind, Zora could hear her nana saying, take a chance. Her decision was made.