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“So she wasn’t there very long. ”

“It doesn’t sound like it. And for what it’s worth, I’m totally not going to ask you to go back inside and have another sit-down with her. I wouldn’t dream of it. ”

“You know better. ”

“I do know better. Which is why I wouldn’t ask. Not in a million years. But—”

“Here it comes,” I grumbled.

“But, if you ever do decide you’d like to give it another shot, I hope you wouldn’t do it alone. I’d like to think you’d give me a call, for back-up purposes. ”

“You’re a sneaky bastard. ”

“That’s what they tell me. ”

Behind him there was a window, and as he wrapped up his non-proposal, the sky opened up in earnest. A flash of lightning and its follow-up thunderclap warned that the worst was yet to come.

Nick peeked over his shoulder and noticed it too. “We timed that well. Thanks for coming with me. I appreciated the company. ”

It came out awkwardly and he knew it; he busied himself with his own burrito.

I didn’t know how to respond, so I just said, “No problem,” and kept on eating.

“If I hear anything,” he said quickly, “about the fire and everything, I’ll let you know. ”

“Thanks. That’d be great. ”

I would have reciprocated the offer, but I needed to talk to Christ first.

9

Accusations

For a second there, I thought Nick was going to bring up coffee or dessert, so I preemptively begged out by telling him I had to meet a friend. It was true, more or less; except I probably couldn’t call Christ a friend without deliberately deceiving myself.

I rode with Nick back to the station and reclaimed my car.

The rain was gaining real momentum, but that wouldn’t necessarily deter Christ and his friends from skating. However, since I didn’t feel like going down to Ross’s Landing and looking for them in the unsheltered out-of-doors, I decided to check my second guess: the library.

As any good delinquent will tell you, the beauty of public property is that you can’t be kicked out of it easily. If the boys felt like taking a breather from the rain, they’d probably hole up beneath the library’s overhang and noodle around on the cement stairs there—if no one was watching.

I parked on the street and sat in my car for a minute, listening to rain hammer down on the windshield and wishing it would quit long enough for me to dash to the library’s overhang.

A harder hammering startled me. There were hands knocking against the passenger’s side window, and a glimpse of crayon-bright hair through the streaming downpour told me that Christ wanted me to let him inside.

I popped the locks. He flung the Death Nugget’s door open and a great spray of precipitation came into the cabin with him. He shook himself like a dog, sending the water all over my vehicle.

“What the—knock it off, would you? Some of us are smart enough to come in from the rain. I’m trying to stay dry over here. ”

“Give up. It’s pissing like hell, and it’s only going to get worse. Good thing I can walk on water, right?”

“Whatever. Hey, I’ve been looking for you. ” I tried to lend the words some threat, not that I thought it would bother him.

I was right, he didn’t care. “Good. I was wondering what it would take to bring you around. We need to talk, me and you. ”

“Yeah we need to talk, but I’m not sure you’re going to like it much. How about we start this with you telling me what happened over at the North Shore Apartments last night?”

“North Shore. Yeah. So you heard about that, good. ”