Page 43 of Talk Birdie to Me

He checked the time on his phone.

Almost lunchtime.

He’d send a text on his break to ask how she was getting along with Gary. He didn’t want to alert her to worry, but he also didn’t want to leave her in the dark.

Maybe he should go over there and tell her his concerns.

It had only been a couple of days since he checked on them, and he’d texted yesterday. But he could swing by again after work.

He definitely wouldn’t mind seeing her again.

There might not be a future for them, but he’d enjoyed her company the other night. A whole lot more than he’d expected.

She took her responsibility of caring for Gary so seriously, and her eyes lit up when she’d seen the pizza he brought over. Kind of made him want to make her light up like that again.

If only she were into something more casual.

He’d love to spend more time with her. To make her smile more. To forget with her, for just a little while, that he would be leaving sooner or later.

Instead, he had to bring her the bad news that she needed to have her guard up, after all.

Geena picked at her rice bowl filled with smoked salmon, avocado, and cucumber while lo-fi tunes played through her earbuds. The break room was blessedly quiet. Exactly what she needed.

It had been a long morning, and her nerves were wound a little tight waiting for a response from her lawyer. She didn’t expect a reply that day, much less that morning, but her brain was going to chew on whether or not her ex’s Anthony might actually be the bird’s previous owner, Anthony Montesano.

“Whoa, what is that face for?”

She looked up to see James waving half a chickpea salad sandwich at her.

“What face?”

“That one. The one that looks like someone died.” He took a bite and chewed while he assessed her. Then, with his bite mostly finished, he said, “Or that someone needs to die.”

“No one is dying,” she said.

“Then you must be thinking about that rat bastard of an ex. Did you ever find any assets he was hiding?”

“No,” she said. “Not exactly.”

“You either found him hiding something or not. Which one do we hate him for?”

“Neither. It’s who he’s been paying that’s got me wondering something. I don’t know. It’s all half-formed ideas at this point. I’m waiting for my attorney to get back to me on it. I’ll have more to tell you then.”

“You’d better tell me everything. I need to add the energy of my loathing that man to the divorce vibes.” James nearly choked on his bread and held a finger in the air. “I almost forgot why I came in here. Chelsea said thank you for offering to do the bridal photos. She’s really excited about it.”

Geena smiled. She was exhausted, but she didn’t have to fake pleasure about this. “I’m so glad y’all are letting me take them. You know I don’t usually do that kind of stuff, but I’ll do some homework and come up with ideas for her. It’ll be fun!”

“Great. I’ll let her know.”

The expression on his face was less than great.

“Hey, you okay?”

He blinked away whatever was weighing him down and cranked his pitch up a notch. “Yeah. No, I’m fine. It’s just all the wedding stuff. Paying for it all, to be precise.”

Geena didn’t want to overstep, but her concern for her friend won out over politeness. “Does Chelsea know how much all of it’s costing? Have you talked about the budget with her? I’m sure she’d understand if y’all needed to pull back on some things.”

She’d only met James’s fiancee a few times, but Chelsea always seemed as smitten with James as he was with her. And she certainly didn’t seem like the type to lose her mind over what was essentially a gigantic party.

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