Page 78 of Talk Birdie to Me

Cody shook his head and grabbed both of her hands. “Gary was my responsibility. Not yours. You did take care of him.”

“While he was here, he was my responsibility.”

She knew she took on plenty of responsibilities that weren’t hers to own. She’d been working on not taking accountability for the failure of her marriage, since that weight fell clearly on Ricky. Still, she’d had to learn to forgive herself when her brain couldn’t shift the blame on him.

But this?

This was definitely in her realm of responsibility. No matter what Cody said.

He tucked her bangs behind her ear, speaking in a soothing tone. “I’m just glad you weren’t here when he was taken. I don’t know how I’d be able to handle it if I’d put you in danger, too.”

“They weren’t after me,” she said. “They only wanted Gary. Which is probably why they broke in while I wasn’t home.”

Cody flinched at that, and his gaze dulled as his thoughts wandered off somewhere. It was concerning to see the normally unflappable man frozen by whatever was going through his mind right then.

She squeezed the hand that was still holding hers. “What is it?”

Cody returned from wherever his mind went. “Nothing, sorry. Just… processing.”

“If I’d been home?—”

Cody raised his hand and held his palm up to stop her.

“What we’re not going to do is play the blame game,” he said with authority. “We’re going to call the police and tell them what happened. Maybe they can get fingerprints or something.”

Fingerprints.

Right.

Geena suddenly regretted touching so many things in her effort to find Gary’s hypothetical hiding spot.

She reached for her phone on the coffee table to call for help, while Cody checked a notification. His expression grew tight as he concentrated on whatever he found.

“Something else wrong?”

Cody put his phone in his pocket. “No. Just a thing I need to take care of later, but it’s not important.”

Geena could tell he was hiding something. Maybe multiple somethings.

But she couldn’t make him share it. Not right now, especially.

So she did the one thing she could to help and called the police.

Cody watched helplessly as Geena wished the officer a good evening and shut the door behind him. When she turned to face Cody, he could see the red rimming her eyes, exhaustion from fighting off tears, and an anxiety flush that crept halfway up her neck.

He’d never seen her like this. Even when she was flustered, like that night when he’d shown up with Gary, Geena had been mostly in control of her emotions and the situation.

But not tonight.

He stepped closer to her and rubbed his hands along the sides of her arms. “You okay?”

Geena nodded, although he could clearly see that she was not in fact okay. She was so far from okay that he didn’t feel comfortable leaving her in this state.

He’d told her multiple times that this wasn’t her fault. If it was anyone’s fault that Gary was missing, it was his. He was the one responsible for the bird.

But Geena had wrapped herself in that responsibility and guilt like a blanket she couldn’t take off.

“You want to sit?” Cody asked. “Or do you want to go somewhere?”

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