“You’ll have to wait and see. Since you’re messing with me, maybe I won’t ever tell you, even if you beg.”

Trev remembered that he’d said he would ask Calvin about a tattoo recommendation, so he shot off a text. It took an hour or so, and Leanne left in the meantime. She had stuff to do, relative to taking over from Dan Rutherford on the city council. His term ended in December, so she’d be officially in the role starting in the new year.

Is that what she can’t tell me? Something to do with politics? Wow, maybe it really is the Skull and Bones thing Dante mentioned. He knew many politicians got involved in stuff like that, networking and secret handshakes, but Leanne didn’t seem like the type. Because from what he knew of such organizations, they were all about maintaining the status quo.

She’s not like that. Is she?

Fuck. He hated doubting his own wife and worrying secretly about what terrible situation she’d gotten herself into. But it wasn’t like he could extricate her without knowing exactly who she was connected to and what was at stake. She’d seemed genuinely frightened about him even speculating aloud. Did she fear the condo was bugged?

No, you’ve played too much Ghost Recon.

Later that day, Calvin finally messaged back. Thinking about getting some ink?

Trevor: It’s for my mother-in-law.

Calvin: Unexpected. I usually get mine done at Buffalo Brothers Ink.

Trevor: Thanks, I’ll let her know.

They texted a little more, as Trev figured it’d be rude to get the info and go silent. He found out about Calvin’s holiday plans—lucky dude was leaving for Costa Rica tomorrow—and shared his own. Just like Dante, it seemed that Calvin liked him fine. Trev had been getting in his own way when it came to making friends. If he messaged Miguel, the guy would help him out, and he’d probably be game to get a beer if he didn’t have family plans already.

Trev had a session with his therapist, then he got to work on the socials, creating content and scheduling posts. Next, he designed a home page for Hazel Jeffords’s cat Goliath, who’d gotten a bit popular after Trev’s “fat cats” political post went viral. Most days, he couldn’t believe he was getting paid to do this. Leanne even said he wasn’t charging enough for his time, but he felt weird about that when he was still taking classes online. He would have a certificate when he finished, but for someone who didn’t even complete his degree…well, it was hard for him to imagine the word “expert” applied to him.