Page 115 of Just Come Over

He needed to get that staircase replaced. If he and Zora had a baby, the open steps wouldn’t be one bit safe. He didn’t even like watching Casey on them.

A regular staircase, definitely. With carpet. Not just for the baby. What if Zora were pregnant, awkward with it, and she slipped?

Finn would know a builder. Sure to. That was how Rhys had found the roofer. He was going to get it done straight away, pulling strings if he had to. If you wanted your life to change? You changed it.

“Can you read the Horton book tomorrow?” Casey asked. “Not the one where he hears a Who. The one where he sits on the egg. Maybe you can get it on your phone, too, and we can read it together.”

“I’ll see what I can do.Ifyou go to bed now.”

“Iam,”she said.

He had to smile. “Night, monkey.”

“Night.”

He lost the image of her, and saw Zora’s face instead.

“Hey,” she said. Just that one word, and the churned-up pieces of him were settling again. “I’ll come kiss you goodnight in a minute,” she told Casey, and he waited while Casey said something inaudible.

“OK,” Zora said. “I’m back. Hi.”

“Hi, sweetheart. Good day?”

“Not bad at all. I got another customer for tomorrow. Good news, eh.”

“It is. What flowers are you doing?”

“Have to see what looks good at the market, but I’m thinking dahlias and roses in shades of apricot, maybe, with eucalyptus. Autumn colors.”

“Send me a photo.”

“I will.”

She hesitated, and he said, “You want to ask me about the divorce, and you’re wondering if it’s sensitive. You don’t have to be sensitive. It’s me. And, yeh, it’s done.”

“Oh. Good. I don’t know how you do that, and from a distance. It’s very scary. I don’t know why in the world you think you aren’t sensitive, either. How are you feeling?”

“Honestly? Wondering how Vic’s doing, I guess, mostly.”

“Relieved, probably. Sad that it didn’t work. Hating you. In proportions I can’t guess. If it were me—eating ice cream from the carton or drinking wine, or quite possibly both at once. She’s probably not doing either.”

“Probably more along the ‘hating’ lines. And you’re right about her with the wine and ice cream, though the night of your divorce could be an exception.” It was odd that he could talk to Zora about this, but he was glad. “It’s strange not to be able to ask her. To know I’m the last person who could make anything better. It’s been two years, and I’m no part of her life anymore, other than the part she’s leaving behind, but it’s strange anyway.”

“To go from sharing a name and a house,” she said, “having your ring on her finger and hers on yours, sharing—whatever you did share with her, to her not wanting to hear your name at all.”

“Yeh. It’s odd. Seeing the document on my phone was... I guess I’ll stay with ‘odd.’ Hollow, maybe that’s the word. I was thinking that I can’t afford to be distracted, but there you are. I’m distracted anyway.”

“Rhys.” She laughed, but it was gentle. “Of course you are. How could you not be? Maybe let yourself be sorry tonight. You can go back to not being distracted tomorrow.”

Which wasn’t exactly how it happened.

It came from Finn, first.

Rhys was in the hotel gym, getting in a quick workout before breakfast, and Finn was suddenly standing over him as he lay on his back on the weight bench, doing triceps extensions.

“Hey,” Rhys said, lifting the heavy dumbbells overhead, then lowering them behind him as slowly as he could, welcoming the effort.

“You may want to sit up,” Finn said. “Here, I’ve got these.” He disappeared behind Rhys and took the dumbbells from him.