Page 33 of The Girl with No Name

“I’m just thinking about my roommate,” I tell her. “I feel sorry for him. His breakup devastated him, and he’s not exactly going about things the right way. He keeps trying to contact his ex, and meanwhile, he dates a new girl every week. Even every day. Sleeping with someone new isn’t going to fill the hole in his soul. He’s got to—shit. My boss is messaging me.”

“Damn,” Luna says.

“I know.”

“No, I meant,damnbecause I’m thinking about what you said, not your work. I’m not judging what people do at all—by the way—but you’re, like, a good man.”

I snort, thinking about me and Dunn’s antics back in the day. “I don’t know about that.”

“No. You are. I can tell.” She turns around, and I think I see her wipe a tear.

“Ya okay there, groupie?” Dunn asks.

“It’s hard to explain. I just haven’t had that much luck with men.”

Hal: You around?

Reed: Of course

He FaceTimes me.

Of course Hal wants to FaceTime me today.

“Guys, we have to pull over to a coffee shop or something,” I say, trying not to panic.

“A coffee shop?” Dunn laughs. “Dude, we’re in the middle of rural fucking Indiana. There’s no fucking way. Just tell him you’re on the road.”

I let my boss’s call go to voicemail.

He calls again.

“Turn the music down, for the love of God.”

I triple check to make sure I have my generic background on, rather than the camera, and answer the call on my work laptop.

“Hey, Reed.” Hal frowns. “Where are you? There’s a weird whirring noise.”

Hal’s camera is on, and he clearly has a massive vacation home with a lake in the background.

“Not in Florida.” I chuckle. Jesus, he lives in a big house.

“You were supposed to be in the office today. Are you in the office?”

“Uhhh…” I clear my throat. “What did you say? I can’t hear you too well. The internet must be slow today.”

He frowns. “Okay. Well, I need you to go through and call all of Lennie’s customers about their renewals today.”

“Mmm, okay.”

“Is there a problem?” he asks.

“It’s just that I already have a big list of things to take care of, and Lennie’s not the only one I need to prioritize.”

“We’re all team players here. You’re a team player, aren’t you?” He continues before I can answer. “I’m gonna need you to get that done by the end of today. Mmmkay?”

I pull up Lennie’s client list. “Uh, Lennie has over two hundred clients. And some of these renewals haven’t even been sent. Looks like Lennie is behind on them. So I’d have to do the renewals as well. This is going to take…a while.”

“Which is why you’re the man to do it! Well, I have to roll. And next time I call, you’d better be on camera. Are you sure you’re in the office? If you’re not, I’ll have to bring in Phil Decker from HR. Or even Sebastian Jones.”

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