Page 7 of Morsel

I grip the steering wheel. I hate that this is happening. I hate all of it. I wish Dolly wasn’t involved, and I wish none of this had happened. If this was up to me, I’d be at home right now. I’d be curled up in bed playing video games. That’s it.

“How do you know those guys?”

I’m going to try to make this easy for her so she’ll talk more. I turn onto a main road, and then I keep driving. I’m not sure where we are. I’m just guessing. Dolly doesn’t offer any suggestions, and I don’t ask.

“Craig is my brother.”

“Didn’t know you had one.”

“We aren’t close.”

“Could have fooled me,” I say.

“We aren’t.”

“And Hank?”

“Craig’s best friend.”

“What happened, Dolly?”

“They offered me money to get to talk to you.”

“Seems like they wanted to do more than talk.”

“I didn’t know about any of that.”

“Dolly.” There’s an edge to my voice I generally reserve for business deals that go awry. I don’t like the way I sound to Dolly.

“I swear I didn’t know.”

“What did they want to talk about?”

“The adoptions.”

Ah.

“How do they know about that?”

She doesn’t say anything.

“Dolly, you better fucking speak.”

But she doesn’t.

3

Dolly

There are so many moments where my life feels hard, broken, and damaged. Then there are moments where everything feels perfect.

On the days Oscar walks through the front lobby to work, I feel like my heart is going to soar. On those days, I think I’m going to die if he doesn’t stop and talk to me. I yearn for him more than I’ve ever yearned for anyone. I crave him.

And yet, I’ve somehow betrayed him without ever wanting to.

“Talk.”

I can’t.

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