Page 19 of Changed By You
Farrah: Dalton smells good. It’s making me horny.
Farrah: God I want a margarita. Must stay strong!
Farrah: Okay, if Dalton and I don’t report for yoga in the morning, don’t come to my room looking for me...
Farrah: But don’t miss yoga because I’ll wake up no matter how late we’re up.
I text back a quickokay and good luck, and then take a chance and call my brother, planning to leave him a long check-in voicemail.
“Hey, Alice,” he says.
I smile, the sound of his voice reminding me of home. “Wow, you answered. Are you on a break from saving people?”
“I just got off a fifteen-hour shift. I’m walking to the train. It’s good to hear your voice. How are you?”
I sigh softly. “Kind of wishing we’d been born identical twins instead of fraternal so we could swap places. You would’ve scrubbed the crotch of another person’s undies with your hands today and been called a provincial fucking fool by a French chef.”
“Okay, not ideal. But you would have removed a screwdriver handle from a guy’s ass, so...”
I laugh. “Stop it, you did not.”
“Oh, I did. And two pairs of rubber gloves didn’t feel like enough for that job.”
“First of all, how?”
“You mean, how’d it happen, or how’d I get it out?”
“I can imagine how it happened to him. He was getting railed with a screwdriver and it broke off.”
“He tried to tell us he didn’t know how it got in there. When the nurse told him we had to call the police because it sounded like he’d been assaulted, he owned it.”
I close my eyes, laughing softly. “Oh my God, the absolute mortification.”
“Yeah. My attending was like,This is all you, Morrow.”
“So how did you get it out?”
“Rectal retractor and my hand. I did not get paid enough today. I promise you that.”
I feel more relaxed than I have since arriving at the beach house. Talking to Will has that effect on me.
“Well, you win. Your day was worse than mine.”
“Why the hell are you washing Farrah’s underwear by hand?”
“I always have. She prefers her lingerie be hand-washed.”
He scoffs. “Well, fuck. Can’t a Laundromat do that?”
“Nope. Do you know what some people would be capable of if they knew they had Farrah Reed’s worn underwear?”
“Jesus. That’s...disgusting but completely true.”
“How are you, seriously? Are you holding up okay?”
“Yeah, I’m good. The hours are long, but I love it. I’m hoping to get home next weekend to see Mom and Dad.”
A passerby nods as she walks past me with two big German shepherds. I smile, wishing I could pet the dogs.
