Page 102 of First-Time Caller
“I am together.”
“More together. Why are you being cagey right now?” She pushes off the doorframe. “Do you want her out of here sooner? Is that what this is?”
I almost laugh in her face. I want the exact opposite. I want Lucie in the chair next to mine. I want her husky laughter and her secret smiles. I don’t want to discuss an exit plan because I don’t want to go back to the way things were. Me, alone in this booth. Struggling to believe in a single thing.
“Ratings are up,” Maggie goes on, oblivious to my mental collapse. “The podcast is charting. I’d like to keep Lucie around for a little bit longer, but people are falling in love with you again. That’s what I was hoping for.”
I blink. “What?”
“It’s like Lucie pressed restart on that storm cloud above your head. I could hear it the first time you talked to her.”
“I—” I don’t know what to say. “I’m feeling a little manipulated here, Mags.”
Maggie shrugs, unrepentant. She pulls a stick of gum out of her pocket and pops it in her mouth. “For the good of the show, my friend.” She gestures at the booth around me. “And look at you. You’re happy to be here. I’ve got retro Aiden back. I haven’t heard you mumbling under your breath once this past month.”
She’s about to. “You could have just told me that was the plan.”
“If I told you that was the plan, you would have dragged your feet the entire time and probably been rude to Lucie. This was a two-for-one special. Lucie gets everything she deserves, and you get less grumpy. Win-win.”
I drag my hand over my face. “But you want an exit plan for her? Even though everything is going to plan?”
Maggie nods. “Every plan has an end. And you were right. She’s not going to find the person she’s looking for over the radio. We’ve given her the tools she needs to succeed. Now it’s time for that cute little bird to fly the nest.” She snaps her gum and her face softens. “I don’t want to take up more of her time. She’s a busy woman, Aiden.”
I nod. “Yeah. Yeah, okay.”
“Plus, that dipshit from Orion has finally backed off.” Something cold and calculating flashes behind her eyes. I never want to be on the wrong side of Maggie, that’s for damn sure. “I’ve sent Cooper West back to the hellhole from whence he came.”
“Who is Cooper West?”
“A spoiled root vegetable that’s been reincarnated as a human. He’s the most arrogant, self-serving man I’ve ever met.”
I blink, confused. “Okay?”
“But it’s fine, because he’s afraid of me now.”
“He should be,” I tell her. “Most reasonable people are.”
Maggie rolls her eyes and slips her phone out of her back pocket. She flicks open her screen and starts to scroll. I’ve been dismissed.
“You’ll talk to her?” she asks, half paying attention. “Figure out how she wants to close out?”
I nod some more. It feels like my head is going to roll right off my shoulders. “Yeah, I’ll talk to her.”
Jackson appears in the doorway behind Maggie, a fierce frown on his face and something . . . brown . . . and wet . . . sliding down the front of his shirt. Maggie takes two steps backward, bumping into the filing cabinet, her phone clattering to the floor.
“What the hell happened to you?” She points at his shirt. “What the hell is that?”
“Delilah Stewart happened to me,” he manages through clenched teeth. His hands are covered and he’s holding them at his sides like a scarecrow. “She’s a danger to society. Aiden, do you have any extra clothes here?”
“I’ve got a couple of T-shirts, yeah.” His left eye is twitching. I reach under my desk for my duffel bag and pull out a faded oldEAT BERTHA’S MUSSELST-shirt I got at a block party a couple of years ago. I drape it carefully around his neck so it doesn’t touch any of . . . whatever that is. “Did she attack you?”
“Her potluck did,” Jackson grumbles. He holds his hands farther away from his body. “Maggie, can you manage the doors for me? I think I’m leaving a trail of chocolate pudding down the hall.”
She snatches up her phone and gives him a wide berth as she slides past him, holding open the door to the booth. “You better not be.”
He sighs. “It really can’t be helped.”
I watch them disappear down the hallway, Maggie becoming increasingly distressed about the carpets. Footsteps sound behind me and Lucie appears at my shoulder, fifteen minutes earlier than usual. I’ve started setting my clock to Lucie, I guess.
