Page 93 of Pretty Little Thing

They both silently turn to me. I sit back.

“Oh, that’s a good one!” Melanie says.

“I certainly like to think so,”he says, awkwardly laughing.

“Do you ever get the chance to do it for real?”

He hesitates. “Ehh... not really.”

Trix nudges my arm. “Have you guys done it?”

“No!” I bite my cheek. “Melanie, come on. Turn it off.”

Melanie raises a sinister brow. “Don’t you want to know how to please your new Daddy?”

“He’s not my Daddy!” I lower my voice, blushing hard. “We don’t play like that.”

“Oh, but you doplay.”

Trix squints at me. “I thought you looked different…”

I close my eyes, blocking their teases out, and my ears naturally focus on his voice coming from the phone instead.

“I don’t want to say exactly what drew me to Red Brick, if that’s okay,”he says. “The now hiring sign was particularly appealing, I’ll admit that much.”

“Had you ever been here before that?”Melanie asks.

“A little, yeah.”

“How often do you pick up girls and take them home with you?”

“Never.”

“Never?”

“My place isn’t very big at the moment,”he says. “Three seats and a steering wheel. Lots of trunk space, though.”

I open my eyes. “Wait, turn it up.”

Melanie frowns. “Oh, I forgot about this...”

“Hard times, huh?”she asks him.

“You can say that.”

Trix leans forward. “Did Daddy just say he lives out of his car?”

My heart stops. “He’s homeless?” I ask.

“Yeah...” Melanie taps the recording off. “We’ll just… put that away now.”

“No, wait.” I reach out. “I want to hear that.”

“This was like half a year ago,” she says. “He’s probably picked himself up by now. I mean, you’ve been to his place, right?”

I sit back. “No, I haven’t.”

I picture him this morning, walking around my condo with wide eyes. I thought he was just reacting how everyone reacts to a place on Michigan Avenue — but maybe last night was the first time in a long time he’s actually slept in a bed.

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