“Grant?” I asked.
“His mother,” she said. “Which, honestly, might have been worse. She showed up hours before I would usually be awake. And she knows that. She knows I don’t get home from the bar until early in the morning. It’s one of the things about my lifestyle she can’t stand, and she likes to rub it in as much as she possibly can. They are both like that. If they like to schedule activities and meetings early in the day so I’m the one who’s the most inconvenienced and damaged by it. They act like I’m some sort of heathen because I don’t maintain the same hours as them.”
“But why was she there?” I asked.
I was trying to stay calm in hopes of bringing her down from the intense peak she’d reached.
“Apparently, the brief went through much earlier than I thought it could and they already saw it. She came to intimidate me and make sure I knew exactly how hard they are going to fight against everything in that document,” she said.
“Did she threaten you?” I asked through gritted teeth, all hopes of remaining unemotional gone.
“Yes,” Lindsey said.
“I want to know everything she said to you. Every single word you can remember. These are all things you need to bring up to Charlie.”
“I told her I would tell him,” I said. “You really think I should?”
“Absolutely,” I said. “Every incident like this needs to be recorded and brought up. Now, tell me what happened.”
I listened with rage boiling in my belly while she explained everything that happened during the confrontation that morning. Since I had never had the opportunity to meet Grant or his mother, I didn’t have much context. But the way Lindsey described it was vivid enough to infuriate me. My hand clenched by my side, and I couldn’t sit still. Finally, Lindsey finished and I heard her let out a long breath like she was deflating.
“You know I wish I could be there with you right now,” I said.
“Of course I do. But I would never ask you to do that. You’re busy. You’re at work. I shouldn’t have even called you,” she said.
“Yes, you should have. Like you said, I need to know what’s going on. Not just to make sure that Charlie knows everything, but because you deserve a support system. And you have it. I’m glad you called me. I just wish I could be there with you right now. But I promise, I’m going to make sure you are safe,” I said.
“Thank you. You’re already doing so much for me and I feel like I’m making it harder.”
“You didn’t do this,” I said. “This isn’t your fault. Relax for the rest of the day and let me see what I can arrange. Make sure your phone stays with you all the time, and don’t hesitate to call the police again if you see either one of them near you.”
“I won’t,” she said.
I hung up with Lindsey and immediately called Quentin.
“Hey,” he said. “How’s the exhibition going? Have you met any of the other teams yet?”
“Yes, but that isn’t why I’m calling,” I said.
“What is it?” he asked, sounding like he could already tell something was wrong.
“There’s something I need you to do for me. Lindsey needs help. There is some serious shit going down right now. I can’t get into the details of it right this second, but I need you to trust me that it’s not good. She needs to be protected. You know her well enough to know she isn’t just going to not go into the bar. But I don’t feel comfortable with her there without somebody to watch over her.”
“You do realize my wife just gave birth, right?” Quentin asked. “I really don’t think she would be too happy with me if I told her I needed to go out to a bar for an entire evening to keep an eye on the bartender.”
“She knows Lindsey,” I argued. “They’re friends. If she knew there was something going on, she would want you to take care of her.”
“Honestly, that’s probably true,” Quentin said. “But you got me worried. What’s going on with Lindsey? Is she in some sort of danger?”
“I really can’t give you all the details right now,” I said. “You’re just going to have to trust me. We will fill you in eventually, but for right now we just need to make sure she is safe. All you need to do is be at the bar keeping an eye on her.”
“You’ve got it,” Quentin said.
“Thank you. It will make me feel much better knowing you’re there.”
“Do you want me to take some pictures? Maybe a video? It might help with your longing…”
I hung up on him in the middle of what sounded like a long, complicated taunt about my crush. Now that I was off the phone and things were at least a bit more settled, I realized I was ravenous. My anger seemed to have built up my appetite. But I didn’t want to go back down to the restaurant. Partially because I didn’t want to deal with the waitress who gave me the stink-eye when I walked out.