“Thank you.”
“I realized this afternoon I don’t have your cell phone number,” he said, out of the blue, with a slight frown.
“That’s because I don’t have one,” I replied in a cautious tone.
“Why not?”
“I lost the last one I had, and I haven’t been able to buy a new one,” I explained, sticking to the truth as much as possible.
My cell phone had stayed behind when I ran away from Daniel.
“I see. I’ll make sure you get one from the company on Monday morning. My employees are encouraged to use them.”
“Or else you fire them?” I asked, even though I knew I was being unfair and mean.
He tilted his head to a side, looking at her as he examined her. “What makes you think that?”
I rubbed my face, repenting the groundless words. “Nothing… I’m sorry. I need to take a couple of aspirins… my head is killing me.”
His demeanor changed instantly. “Do you have some? If not, there should be some in my medicine cabinet.”
“I don’t… I was about to ask you…” I confessed.
“Let’s go to the kitchen,” he invited me, and I followed him, happy to leave behind the confined area of my living room. It was too small for a man the size of Wells, and he seemed to make it even smaller.
In the kitchen, he looked for the aspirins and offered them to me along with a glass of water.
“Thank you.”
“You can help yourself from the cabinet whenever you need it. Just make sure to let me know when we run out of something,” he said.
“I will, thank you,” I assured him.
“For the record, the phones are offered to the employees. They can choose to either use them, give them away, or even sell them. It’s entirely their choice, but since our phones are quite good, they usually tend to keep them for themselves.”
“I’m sure… I was just rude, with no reason…” I apologized.
He nodded and leaned against the kitchen counter, his eyes piercing my face as if he was trying to see into my soul.
“Who’s Daniel?”
The question stunned me, and I’m sure I paled. I didn’t expect the question, but probably I should have. I knew I used to call out his name in my nightmares, as I begged him to stop.
“I have no idea,” I lied, looking away.
“Are you sure? You kept asking him to stop when you were screaming,” he confirmed my suspicions.
“I already told you I don’t remember the nightmare,” I insisted, instinctively pacing the room, too restless to stay still.
“That, I could have believed… but that you don’t know who Daniel is when you call his name so many times as I tried to wake you up? That doesn’t make any sense, and you know it,” he pointed out in an icy tone.
He was right, of course, but how could I admit knowing who Daniel was? That would lead to a thousand more questions I didn’t intend to answer. But maintaining the lie would just worsen my situation with Wells.
I rubbed my forehead in a vain attempt to ease the pain. “All right… I do know Daniel, I’m just trying to forget he exists,” I admitted.
“Who is he? Has he ever hurt you in any way?” he asked, and I scowled.
Damn the man. He was never pleased with my answers as if getting to the bottom of things was his main goal in life.
