14

Oscar

Sleep finally claims me.

I wake up on the couch to the smell of bacon.

“Dolly?”

“I’m here,” she says. “Are you hungry?”

“Yes.”

I don’t question why she decided to make herself comfortable at my house this morning. Instead, I sit down, accept the coffee, and watch quietly as she puts together a plate of food.

“Here you go,” she says. She places a blue glass plate filled with eggs, bacon, and fruit in front of me.

“What’s this?”

“I cooked.”

“Did you sleep?”

“I slept.”

“Did you?”

“Yes,” she says.

“How did you sleep?”

“You don’t have to ask me that.”

“I want to.”

“I slept fine, Oscar. Are you going to call the cops this morning?”

Dolly speaks so casually that her words don’t register at first.

“Dolly?”

“I mean it,” she says quietly. “Are you going to call them?”

“Why would you ask me that?”

“Because I know what I did,” she says. “I know it was wrong.”

“Why don’t you sit down?” I finally say. “I think we should talk.”

She sits quietly.

“You’re still naked.”

“Yeah,” she says.

“I’ll order you some clothes.” I should have thought of it earlier. “What size do you wear?”

She stares at me.

“What?”

“What size clothing do you wear?” I should know this, but I’m too tired to think straight.

“I’ll just get my own clothes later,” she says.

“You can’t go back to your house.”

“Why not?”

“Again with the kidnapping.”

“But if you aren’t going to call the cops, then it doesn’t matter,” she says.

I stare at Dolly.

“For someone so pretty, you really are dumb.”

“What?”

“Do you really think your brother and Hank won’t attack you?”

“I don’t think they’ll attack me,” she says, but her eyes betray her thoughts.

“You are so fucking gorgeous,” I say. “Now, let’s talk.”

“About?”

“You. Tell me everything.”

I take my phone, and I send a message to my assistant. I ask her to drop off an assortment of clothes in various sizes, and she assures me that she will. I Venmo her a bonus for the trouble. She’ll use my credit card for the purchases.

“What do you want to know?” Dolly asks.

“For starters, how old are you?”

“Twenty-eight.”

“Where did you grow up?”

“California.”

“How’d you end up in the Midwest?” I ask.

“My dad took a job here.”

“What job?”

“I don’t know. He died shortly after we got here. Car wreck. I don’t even know if he ever actually started the job.”

“That must have been tough,” I said. She’d had to be alone for so damn long. I looked at Dolly, and I watched as her shoulders slumped forward just a little. Quickly, she pulled them back.

“It was hard, but we got through it.”

“You and your mom?”

“I had a little brother, but he was in the car with my dad.”

“Dolly.”

“It’s okay.”

But I’m on my feet and tugging her out of the chair almost instantly. I wrap my arms around her, and I squeeze.

“It’s not okay,” I say.

“It was a long time ago.”

“That doesn’t make it not hurt,” I whisper.

“I know. It’s just…I try not to think about them.”

“Why not?”

“Because I miss them,” she says.

“It never stops hurting,” I say. I think of my own dad, of my sister-in-law, of my nieces. Phoenix lost his family, too, but he’s not the only one who lost them.

“I feel like I haven’t quite learned to live with the pain.” Dolly looks up at me. “Do you have any tips?”

I laugh gently. “No, baby. I don’t have any tips.”

“Why are you being nice to me?”

“You’re mine now, Dolly.”

I don’t mean to say the words, but now that I have, I don’t bother trying to take them back. The words feel right. Everything about this feels right.

“I’m not yours, Oscar.”

But I kiss her.

And kiss her.

And kiss her.