Coming Home(172)

Troy knew a bunch of resourceful tricks like that. He’d been down for thirteen months for possession of drugs while on probation, and he still had another three years to serve. But with good time, he could be out in just over two.

“They post the call sheet for tomorrow yet?” Danny asked.

“No, but I better be on it for the damn doctor. My knee is killing me.”

Danny lay back on his bed, blinking up at the ceiling. He hadn’t been down as long as Troy, but still, he knew there was no way Troy would be on the call sheet for the doctor tomorrow. Unless someone was bleeding or dying, he was basically forced to tough out whatever was ailing him. It had been one of the first things Danny had learned about this place.

Troy rolled up the stromboli and shook his head. “Wish I had some f*cking soda,” he said, pressing it together with his thumbs to make it stick.

“When’s your commissary day again?”

“Thursdays,” he said.

“I’m on Monday. I’m good with most of my shit for now, so I can get some when I go.”

“Thanks, man,” Troy said, licking his finger before pressing the tortilla down again. “I’ll owe you.”

Danny nodded.

Troy sealed the bag of cheese before he walked back to the locker. “Isn’t your girl coming today?”

Danny wet his lips. “Yeah.”

Troy shoved the bags of food in his locker before bumping it closed with his elbow. “If Shaw or Brighton are on duty, watch your ass.”

“What do you mean?”

Troy walked back to his plate and pressed down on the tortilla again. “They’re real dicks about everything. Touching and shit.”

Danny sat up on his bed. “I can’t touch her?”

Troy shook his head as he tucked in the ends of the stromboli. “You can hug her when she comes in, but that’s it. And keep that shit respectable. If you get flagged, they’ll take her off the list. And if you keep getting flagged, you lose visitation all together.”

Danny ran his hand down his face.

“Shaw and Brighton, they’re f*cking hawks, man. Anything that looks like you might be passing shit back and forth and you’re done. If Hanover’s on duty, you’ll get a little more leeway.”

And just like that, his earlier fantasy splintered into a million pieces before it disintegrated like powder; in its wake was the image of Leah sitting across him, her hands folded obediently in her lap as the guards monitored the three feet of insurmountable space between them.

He wished he’d known this beforehand so he could have given her some type of warning. Now, he’d be faced with the task of pushing her away. It didn’t matter that he could immediately follow it up with an explanation of the rules; he was still going to have to endure the initial look of shock and hurt on her face as he denied her affection.

“Did your girl know all this before she came the first time?” Danny asked.

“I don’t remember.”

Danny lay back on his bed, pressing the heels of his hands into his eyes. “This is so f*cked up. I’ve been waiting for this.” He dropped his hands and looked at Troy. “But this is gonna suck, isn’t it?”

Troy sighed as he lifted his plate. “It is what it is, brother. You get over it.”

And with that, he walked out of the room.

Danny stared after him before turning his gaze to Troy’s side of the cell. There were four pictures taped to the wall above his bed: one of Troy with a woman who appeared to be his mother, and the other three were of him and his girlfriend. In one of the pictures she was sitting on his lap. In another, they were kissing.