"Let me get this straight," Elio said. "You told your partner that you were going to volunteer at a refugee shelter."
"Yeah," I agreed, nodding my head. It made no sense to not tell Kasteil where I was going. He was my partner and deserved to know that I was going to disappear for a few days.
"And he told your competitor—aka the guy who wants to sabotage your relationship, but your smart partner seems to not know that he wants to sabotage your relationship," Elio said.
I could hear the disbelief in his voice. The frustration. Elio had never been good at hiding his emotions. Everything he felt was right there on his face, in his voice, in the way he moved his hands.
"Elio, that's a long name," I said with a little laugh. I was trying to lighten the mood. Trying to make this conversation feel less heavy. But it wasn't working.
"Well, I am not calling him Roma. That's a name too pretty for someone with such an ugly character," Elio said.
