Outsourced by Dave Zeltserman Read Free Book Online Page A

asked.
    “Just leave me alone.”
    “You know I didn’t mean any of those things.” He looked away from her. “I love you.”
    A good minute passed as she sat still, an internal struggle tightening the muscles around her mouth. “I love you too,” she finally said. “But I’m not like you. I can’t just flip a switch and have everything be okay. I need time to process my feelings.”
    “What do you want me to do?”
    “Just leave me alone right now.”
    “All right, sure, if that’s what you want.”
    Dan pushed himself out of his chair. He got to the kitchen’s entranceway before Carol called out to him.
    “I know some of the things I said to you weren’t fair,” she said. “I know you worked hard for a lot of years while I stayed home with the kids. And I know that you just had that three-month contract, and that you’re trying. But I’m scared right now. I don’t have your sense of optimism. And I just don’t see how we’re going to make it.”
    He started to open his mouth but she raised a finger, warning him. “Don’t say everything’s going to be okay. Please! I’ll scream if you say that!”
    He wavered, then lifted his hands in a sign of surrender and left the room.
    The fight with Carol wiped him out. There was so much blame, so much disappointment simmering inside her. Deep down he knew he still loved his wife, but it was getting so damn hard to be in the same room with her. That would change after he got his cut from the bank robbery. Of course, that was if the robbery was still on. Joel hadn’t made his decision yet and there was still Gordon to talk to. If either of them turned it down, the robbery was dead and finished.
    He turned on the set and was surprised to see the ten o’clock news had already started. He remembered he owed Shrini a call.
    No one answered. He started to leave a message when Shrini picked up.
    “Hey, man,” Dan said, “sorry about the time. I should’ve called you earlier.”
    “No problem,” Shrini said in an exaggeratedly serious tone. “I’ve been tied up most of the night working on my cardiovascular.”
    Dan heard a girl giggling in the background. “You got company. Damn, I’m really sorry about bothering you now.”
    “No problem, dude, we’re taking a break. A well-deserved break, believe me.” There was some more giggling and Shrini left the phone for a moment. When he came back, he said, “Give me a one-word answer, yes or no, so I am not held in suspense all night.”
    “The word would have to be maybe . I’ll call you tomorrow.”
    “Okay, dude, tomorrow.”
    Dan sat back in the chair and watched the news for a few minutes, then flipped through the channels until he came to a new reality show called Bank Job . He sat transfixed, not believing what he was watching. The point of the show seemed to be to have the participants plan a bank robbery. The robbery would be staged after two months of planning in a building that used to be a real bank. Everyone would be in on it. There would be no real bullets or anything, but if the members were successful they would get to keep the million dollars that was going to be placed in the vault. Dan just started cracking up. He couldn’t help himself. At some point Carol came in. She looked exhausted as she stood in the doorway.
    “What’s so funny?” she asked.
    “Nothing,” Dan said, wiping tears from his eyes. “Just this stupid reality show.”
    “If it’s stupid, why don’t you turn it off?”
    “I will, I just need to veg for a few minutes.”
    “I’m going to bed now,” she said. “Would you like to join me?”
    “In a little while. I need some more time to clear my head.”
    “I’ll meet you upstairs. Could you turn the set down? It’s really loud.”
    The volume was barely audible, but he lowered it anyway. He wasn’t sure whether she was becoming hypersensitive to noise or if she was just busting his balls, but they’d been having too many fights as it was.
    “I’ll