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I blink at her. “How?”
“I had to sit against the bathroom door to let King know when you were getting out of the shower, so he could drill the holes and run the wires. Good thing you take forever in the shower.” I ignore the dig, since it’s not like I’ve had anything better to do with my time. “Didn’t know the boss had it in him to wire stuff.”
“But…a landline?” I still can’t believe it.
“You’ve missed a lot of Jamie’skids these daysjokes, so consider yourself lucky.” I smile, thinking of her goofy husband and can just imagine. “But that’s not even the craziest thing he did.” I’m almost afraid to ask, but Ginger doesn’t make me. “He got two more dogs, too.”
My jaw drops. “What?”
“Yep. Same breed as Duke, but younger.”
“What…” my chest tightens. “What are their names?”
She rolls her eyes. “Earl and Baron.”
It’s so stupid. And funny. And I don’t know why I’m all of a sudden crying.
“Aww, girl, don’t do that!” Ginger hurries out of her chair and comes to sit next to me on the couch.
“Sorry,” I brush the tears away. “It’s just… In the closet…” I sniffle. “I don’t get it. He’s doing all of this,” I gesture in front of me, meaning the whole property, “but he won’t come near me. Or come check on me.”
“Well, first…” Ginger hands me a tissue. “He’s the one that’s been putting that dog in your room every night. And if I was a betting woman, I’d put all my chips on thehe stands there and watches youbet.”
I’d already assumed it was him doing it. But it’s nice to have it confirmed.
I take a second to blow my nose. “I mean, I know men are weird.” Ginger scoffs. “But even if he feels bad about me getting hurt, I still don’t understand why he’s avoiding me. Like why wouldn’t he at least sleep with me at night?”
Ginger blows out a breath. “Okay, so here’s the part thatethicallyI probably shouldn’t tell you.”
I turn to face her. “But you’re going to anyway?”
“Obviously. Okay, so, like two nights ago I was working late, because I took the afternoon to babysit my nieces. Anywho, I may have seen King coming down the stairs, after what I assumed was him putting Duke in your room. And I may have been cleaning the picture frames in the hallway outside of his office door, and he may have been on the phone…”
“You were eavesdropping?”
She gives me a look. “Do you want the story, or do you want to judge me?”
I fold my hands together on my lap. “Story please.”
“Well, as I was saying, he was on the phone with someone. I can probably guess who, but these doors are too solid to really hear much, so it was mostly just muffled noises. But, I nearly knocked one of the frames off the wall when King suddenly shoutedshe’s scared of me.”
“Scared of him? Me?”
She lifts a shoulder. “After that it was back to muffled nonsense, and I figured I’d lingered long enough.”
“How could he think that I’m scared of him?” I toss my hands up, forgetting about the crumpled tissue clutched in my palm, and we watch as it lands on my cold plate of breakfast.
I stare at the brace secured around my wrist, while I try to figure out his reasoning. And only come to one conclusion.
“Men are idiots.”
Ginger lifts a brow. “Took a concussion for you to figure that out?”
An awkward laugh bubbles out of me.
It feels like it’s been so long since I’ve laughed.
“Well,” Ginger slaps her hands on her thighs. “Now that you’re awake do you want me to help you upstairs?”