Page 11 of Bobby Green

“Yeah. I knew that.” He shook his head. “Sorry—I’m not always… remembering stuff good.”

Oh. Vern got that. “No worries,” he said, smiling with all the reassurance he could muster. “I mean, it’s not like I’m an expert.”

And Digger chewed his lip, a sort of pained sorrow crossing his face. “I’ve been doing this for ten years,” he said in a stage whisper, like this was a confidence. “I just forget shit.”

“But you never forget to come in for your schedule,” Dex said, straightening up from the phones and giving Kelsey an absent pat on the shoulder. “That makes up for a whole lot of ills in my book.”

Digger gave Dex a comfortable wink. “You just say that ’cause you’re shorthanded.”

“Yeah.” Dex’s grimace was not nearly so comfortable. “I don’t think Tango’s coming back.” His voice sank low—this made him sad.

“You’ll still visit,” Digger told him. “Kelsey told me folks set up shifts in his room. We’ll take care of him.” Vern glanced at him sharply. He didn’t know who Tango was, but there was something childlike and trusting in this guy’s voice. Couldn’t Dex hear it? He thought this porn shop was full of grown-ups.

“Yeah, but Chance isn’t doing too good either,” Dex muttered, then shook his head and smiled determinedly at Vern. “I’m sorry—you caught us on sort of a shitty day. Come on back with me into the office. I’ll get Reg—Digger’sschedule, and we’ll talk.” He squeezed Kelsey’s shoulder and stepped from behind the desk. “Sorry, Digger.”

“I should have picked a name when I started,” Digger said with a shrug. “I’m not that smart.”

“Well, John was new too then,” Dex said kindly. “We have more of our shit together now. C’mon back.”

The back office was just as ordinary as the front office, except the back office had framed watercolors on the walls. There was one picture—a bunch of shirtless, built guys in jeans, standing in a courtyard, arms around each other’s shoulders, smiling—that caught Vern’s attention. Dex was one of the guys, and Kane stood right next to him, both of them looking carefree and not particularly posed. It was almost like someone said, “Hey, let’s do this!” and it had turned into a publicity shot.

Maybe it had.

Digger was on the end of the line of guys, looking a little small in comparison. It wasn’t that he wasn’t ripped—and not obviously short. His body was tight and compact, every muscle group defined, but he was just not as tall or as bulky as the other guys in the shot, and Vern sort of liked him more for that. He was just… regular. Not a god. Just a guy.

So was Vern.

“That was a good day,” Digger said from the little utilitarian desk in the corner of the room. “We were all there for head shots, and John wanted to get a candid. He’s a good guy.”

“Yeah, he is,” Dex said, clicking at a laptop from a standing position. “And here he is!”

A slight thirtyish ginger-haired man walked into the office and smiled almost shyly. “You rang?”

“Yeah, John—look, I gotta go visit Tommy. I mean Tango. Fuckme. We’re getting guys to spend time with him, if that’s okay—”

“What about….” John looked at Vern and grimaced.

“Yeah, well, we can’t do anything about him.” Dex sighed. “Look—I’m printing out Digger’s schedule—”

“Who in the fuck is Digger?” John asked blankly, and Vern got a good look at Digger grimacing. Dex threw John a meaningful look, and John clapped his hand over his face. “Sorry, Reg. Digger. Sorry, Digger.”

Digger’s smile held no rancor. “Sort of my fault,” he said sunnily. “I should never have tried to change it.”

“Anyway—I’m getting his schedule, and then I need you to talk to Vern here and maybe film his audition. Trust me, it’ll be worth taking time out of your day.”

Vern shifted uncomfortably and offered a game smile. “I’ll do my best?”

John laughed and shook his hand just when Dex said, “And here we go, Digger.”

The printer spat out a sheet of paper, and Dex grabbed a highlighter from a coffee cup on the corner of the desk and scanned through it quickly. “Here, here, here, here, here, and here. You’re on a lot in the next two months—I hope that’s okay.”

“Girls?” Digger said, sounding delighted. “That’s exciting. I didn’t know if that was gonna last.”

“Yeah, well, you can get it up around ’em. You’re a natural.”

Digger grinned with pride. “Oh, hey—Ethan in a couple weeks. That’s great! Haven’t shot with him in a while.”

“You should give him a call—everyone likes a friend,” Dex said, and the kindness in his voice told Vern this was something he’d reminded Digger of before.