Page 101 of A Wolfe in the Woods

“Bernie?” I called, picking up my steps. “Hey, you heading out to grab banana-walnut muffins? I owe you one.”

He startled, then smiled. “Oh. Hi, Blanche.” He hesitated. “No. Not today.”

I studied him. His hands were fidgeting with the strap of his bag, adjusting his watch, touching nothing and everything at once. He looked disoriented.

“Are you okay?” I asked, reaching out to touch his arm.

“I’m heading home,” he said softly.

“Home?” I echoed, confused. “Are you sick?”

He exhaled, long and tired. “That’s…one way to put it.”

Something in my chest tightened.

“Bernie. What’s going on?”

He looked at my hand on his arm for a moment before meeting my eyes. “They let me go.”

The words landed wrong. They simply didn’t make any sense.

“What? What do you mean theylet yougo?” I asked, incredulous. “That’s not—Bernie, you’ve been here longer than half this building!”

He nodded. “Early retirement package,” he added slowly. “Eldritch argued for over an hour. Got me a decent severance. But Erik wouldn’t budge.”

I felt heat flood my face. “That’sillegal. He can’t just— There are protections, Bernie. Age-discrimination laws, wrongful termination…”

“Blanche,” he interrupted gently.

I saw it then. The exhaustion. A deep exhaustion that lined the wrinkles of his face. I hadn’t noticed how deep they’d become these last few years, after his wife had passed away.

“I appreciate it,” he said. “But I’m tired. I’m too old to fight. I’ve been fighting alone…a long time now, Blanche. This city’s a hard place to be lonely in.”

My throat burned. My eyes stung. “What are you going to do?” I asked quietly.

He smiled again. Sad but sincere. “I don’t know. Graymore’s too expensive without this job. Hell, even with this job. And…Eunice has been gone a long time.” His voice softened. “The apartment’s quiet. Too quiet.”

I squeezed his hand. Harder. “I can’t believe this. You don’t deserve this,” I said.

“No,” he agreed. “But this place doesn’t care about that.”

A pause. Then he leaned closer, lowering his voice. “Promise me something,” he said.

“What?”

“Don’t let this place harden you,” he said. “You glow, Blanche. Don’t let them take that away from you.” He offered a small, familiar smile. “Remember, life is what you make it.”

I nodded, swallowing hard.Life is what you make it,I repeated silently. I hugged him then, tight and sudden. Like I was clinging on for dear life. He returned it with a gentle laugh and soft pat on my shoulder.

“We won’t be strangers,” I said, determined. Bernie had been my one true friend in the office for years. I couldn’t imagine not seeing him every day. He’d become such a constant in my life. “I won’t let that happen.”

“I’d like that,” he said. And he meant it.

I watched him walk out through the glass doors, swallowed by sunlight and the indifferent rush of the city.

And just like that, Skoll stopped being abstractly toxic…

And became cruel.