Page 102 of Making Home with You
“I ah, I called the station,” he says.“They gave it to me.”
I don’t bother to hide thefor fuck’s sakethat falls from my mouth, mentally reminding myself to have words with my staff tomorrow for randomly giving my number out to people.Especially this guy.
“What do you want?”I repeat.
Sarah is still lying on the bed, but she’s propped up on her elbows now, watching me.I don’t walk out of the room, instead, switching my phone to speaker so she can hear what’s going on.I’m not hiding this anymore, not now that we’re past keeping shit from each other.
“It’s Carla’s ex-husband,” I whisper as Sarah sits up.
“I saw the article in the Boston Met,” the voice says, filling the room that just moments ago felt like a peaceful haven away from all of the shit we’re still dealing with.“The one where they interviewed Carla about what you’d supposedly done to her.”
My gaze locks with Sarah’s and straightaway I can tell from the look on her face that she knows about the article, that she’s read it too.
“Sorry,” she mouths, frowning a little.
I step forward, place my phone on the bed next to her before lifting her hand to my mouth and kissing her knuckles.
“What about it?”I ask, turning toward my phone.“It’s all bullshit anyway.”
“I know it is,” Craig says, his voice more confident now.
“What?”
“Carla has been obsessed with you forever,” he continues, shocking me.“All throughout the time we dated and even during our marriage.It’s part of the reason we broke up,” he says.“Well, that and a lot of other things,” he quickly adds as though he realizes how that sounded.
I take a deep breath.“Yeah I know about the weird obsession,” I say, shoving a hand through my hair.“Shit has been happening here,” I continue.“And the police actually raided her house.Found a lot of stuff.”
“Hmmm,” is all Craig says, as though he isn’t surprised by any of this.
“They can’t find her though,” I add.“No one has seen her for a few days.”
“Really?”he asks, a ruffling noise coming through the phone.
“You don’t know where she is?”I ask.
“No,” he says quickly.“I haven’t seen her since the divorce was finalized three years ago.”
“Shit,” I mutter.“Okay, well thanks for the call,” I add, ready to end this conversation.
Craig exhales now, as though he’s sorry for what he’s about to tell me.“Look, Finn,” he says.“I should’ve told you stuff way back when I still lived in Rockport, when I was married to Carla,” he says.“Things weren’t right, the way she acted around you, the way she constantly talked about you.None of it was normal.After the divorce, I moved to Boston and tried to forget about her.But then I saw the article yesterday.I’ve been away on business,” he adds, almost as an afterthought, as though he wants to explain why he’s only contacting me now.
I don’t say anything, just wait for him to continue as Sarah and I watch each other, still unsure as to why he’s called me.
“A part of me half expected her to hook up with you as soon as I was out of the picture.”
“That never happened,” I quickly say.“Carla and I have never been involved with each other, apart from that one night at the end of high school.”
“I know,” he says, as though to reassure me.“That’s not why I called.”
“Why did you then?”I ask, suddenly exhausted and frustrated.
“A Detective called me,” he says.“Wanted to speak to me about Carla, wanted to know if I’d seen her recently.”
“What did you tell him?”I quickly ask.
“I didn’t,” he says.“I actually haven’t called him back.”
“Why?”
