Page 6 of Base Block

Chapter 2

“I knew it.”

I looked up. “What are you doing here?”

Callum sat down next to me on the park bench. “I had a feeling that you didn’t have anywhere to go. I figured I’d come by after work to see if you were out on the street.” He turned to me, nodding. “And you are.”

“I did have somewhere to go,” I said. “I found the hotel.” It had taken me a long time, though, with a lot of slow walking. I had tried four different places before I found one that had triggered a little recognition in my brain, and my brain had been right. That had been the place where we had eaten room service…was that yesterday? Or was it the day before? I yawned and rubbed my eyes.

“If you found it, why aren’t you there?” he asked.

“They checked out. They all left,” I explained. “I think they forgot about me again, like they did at the club.” It didn’t make a lot of sense, since Millie was usually very well-organized. She had tickets, reservations, and itineraries for this entire trip, from start to finish. I wondered why she hadn’t made everyone wait at the hotel until I got back, but at least she had left me something.

“Where were they heading?” he wanted to know.

“I wasn’t in charge of that.” I’d followed her directions—as Damian’s personal assistant, she was my boss or the next best thing. I had listened then obeyed: get dressed, put on your shoes, hurry down to the car, dance, go to his room. “I was part of the entourage.”

“Right. What are you doing now?”

I looked around the circular plaza. There was a big, tall monument in the middle and fountains with pools. I hadn’t seen anything similar in Los Angeles and there definitely wasn’t anything like it in the town where I was from. When we’d been to Chicago and the other cities, we hadn’t stopped to see the sights and now all the hotels and clubs had run together in my mind.

Where would I go next?

“I don’t mind being here,” I said. “It’s warmer now and it’s pretty.”

“I mean for a long-term thing,” Callum said. “I don’t think you should sleep outside.” He gestured to my feet. “Where’d you get those?”

“The hotel,” I answered, holding up my leg. The slippers they’d given me had their fancy logo on them. “The people at the desk said that Damian and Millie hustled everyone out early this morning, an hour or two before I showed up. Millie is his assistant,” I explained. “She had ordered just one car and they all squeezed in, with the luggage, too.”

“Including your luggage? You don’t have anything?”

Had it really been mine? Not the clothes or the shoes, not the makeup either. Damian had paid for all that. “I have my dress,” I answered, plucking the metallic fabric. “I have these slippers, now. And Millie left me an envelope with a little money and my driver’s license. So I have all that.”

“And you have a bottle.” He pointed to my hand. “You’re still carrying around the empty orange juice.”

Well, I was. It had been nice of him to get it for me. “I asked the people at the hotel’s front desk for the phone number on the reservation. I think that you have to give them one and a credit card and all that. But they said they couldn’t share any information, and they gave me the slippers as a kind of consolation thing.” I had also asked for a robe but they’d said no and that I needed to leave.

“So you still haven’t gotten ahold of anyone? What about your family or friends back in Los Angeles?”

I nodded. “Yes, I’ll call them. I’ll get a bus ticket.” I didn’t have enough money to get very far, and what would I do when I arrived? I had no ideas at the moment.

“You want to borrow my phone?” He took his old machine out of his pocket and offered it to me.

I accepted it, flipped it open, and traced my finger over the numbers before giving it back. “I don’t have anyone to call at the moment,” I said.

He rubbed his hand over his face. “It will be dark soon. What about going to a shelter?” He looked me over, not just my feet but checking out the gold dress, too. I must have brushed against one of the ATVs in his garage, because there was a big grease stain on the skirt part. “I don’t know how you’d do there.”

“I’ll be leaving here soon, right away. Thanks again for coming by.”

“Yeah, sure. I better head home,” he told me. I nodded and he did, too.

Neither of us got up. I looked around and Callum leaned forward, his elbows on his knees and his fingers laced together. Then he straightened and turned his head in my direction.

“You want to come back to my house?”

“Really? Yes,” I said quickly. “Yes, I do.”

“The thing is, you’re not going to be able to stay there long. Just for the night,” he told me. “I’m leaving soon, too. I’m moving to Michigan.”