“I usually take a half hour. I’d just as soon not say whatever we have to say in—” He cut himself off as a middle-aged woman in scrubs hurried up to the desk, grabbed a clipboard with a “Hey, Lee,” and a glance, and rushed off. “—here,” he finished. “No privacy.”
“I can see that.” I stepped aside for an aide trundling a cart of linens past us.
“There’s a park down the block with benches, some nice fresh air. The corner store by it sells sandwiches, if you didn’t bring a lunch.”
I hadn’t. Eating in the middle of the day had degenerated to a bag of chips or a candy bar. My appetite was still crappy. “You want to meet there?”
“Twelve-thirty? Can you make that work?”
“Sure.” As long as it was a short conversation, so I could make the bus, but I didn’t have hopes for anything more.
“Right.” Lee gave me a firm nod with far more gravitas than he used to have. “See you there. And… I’m sorry you’re here.”
He strode off, leaving me staring at his back.Thank you? I think?I’d have to wait an hour to find out what exactly he was sorry for.
Except as I was getting ready to clock out with Kashira, my phone rang.Parole Officer. One call I always would take.
“Excuse me.” I swiped green. “Yes, sir?” Respect never hurt.
“Griffin? We have a bit of a situation with your afternoon hours. I need you to report to my office.”
“Uh, now?”I was about to meet Lee.
“Half an hour. Can you manage that?” Officer Daniels’ voice was always gruff, so I couldn’t read much into it.
If the buses cooperated, I’d be okay. “Yes, I think so. I might be a bit late, though. The fourteen bus tends to run behind schedule.”
“When you get here, then.” He took enough pity on me to add, “We’ll work it out. It’s just a hiccup, not a disaster.”
“I’ll be quick as I can.” I hung up and cursed under my breath.
“Problem?” Kashira asked. “You’re good to go if you want to get out of here.”
“I have a meeting I can’t miss.” My mouth didn’t want to sayparole officer, like it felt shameful—it should be— but I made myself add, “About my community service at the other facility.Is, um, Lee around? Lee Robertson? I was supposed to meet him for something and I’ll need to reschedule.”
“He’s in a conference with a supplier and the accountant,” she said. “I’ll pass that along.”
There was nothing I could do but nod, as if having someone make my apologies to Lee for ditching him— again— would be just fine.It’s not my fault this time.“Can I have a Post-it?”
She passed me a neon yellow square and I scribbled on it. “That’s my phone number. Let him know he can call me to reschedule or, I guess, I’ll be in tomorrow morning.”
“I’ll tell him. Thanks for your help this morning.” She took the Post-it, and all I could do was hustle out of the building and head for the bus stop. The only blessing was that the paparazzi fool with the camera hadn’t bothered to stick around. There were a few upsides to being ten years off from my peak of fame in the public eye.
I made it to Officer Daniels’ door in just under forty minutes. He ushered me inside. “Come in, sit down.”
“Did I do something wrong?” I hated the way my heart pounded, but screwing up with Daniels was my ticket to actual prison.
“No, no, sorry. Two issues have come up with the Caring Hands facility. First, they expressed some concern about press attention. I gather a reporter was over there asking questions.”
I rubbed my face. “I wish I could control what the press and paparazzi do, but I can’t. I think any interest will die down fast. I’m a third-tier celebrity these days, only news on a really slow day.”
“I tend to agree. However, the other issue is that they’re having a flu outbreak and have decided to close the building to non-essential visitors for a week, beginning today.” Daniels looked at his computer screen. “You should’ve received a notice.”
I checked my texts. I’d silenced the damned ping noise, given the onslaught of crap I got that way. Yeah, sure enough, an hour ago, there was a text from Caring Hands about the closure. “Yes, I have it. What happens now? I’m not trying to avoid those hours.”
“Of course not.” There might’ve been a note of reassurance in Daniels’ voice. “You could just take the afternoons off this week, or we could look for an alternate facility that would offer you hours.”
“That. Please.” I wanted to get this whole community service over with. Plus, if I wasn’t busy volunteering, all I’d be doing was bouncing wall to wall in the apartment. The few local performances I’d now lined up were evenings and weekends, and so were my practice facility times. One neighbor had a small baby, so I didn’t practice at home anymore. I liked my liver right where it was, and her threats if I woke the infant from its nap one more time had been creative.
