Page 21 of Fate, Interrupted

“You don’t have to do that.”

“It’s not a problem. We have an electrician on the crew. He does installs.”

“Silas.”

“Norah.”

We look at each other, and the aisle is empty around us, the low hum of the store’s ventilation, the distant sound of a forklift somewhere in the lumber section, the faint voices of his crew in the next aisle talking about PVC fittings.

“Why didn’t you come back?” I ask. Direct, because it saves time, and I’ve always found it more interesting to move toward the question than around it.

He considers that for a moment. Five days have passed, and apparently both of us have been counting.

“I thought about it,” he says.

“Every day,” I say, “or only once?”

“More than once.”

“But you didn’t.”

“No.”

“Why?”

He meets my eyes. “Because I wanted to, and that seemed like a reason to wait.”

I turn that over in my head.

It is an absurd answer. It is also the most honest thing anyone has said to me in recent memory.

“That’s a very controlled response to wanting something,” I say.

“I’m a controlled person,” he says.

“I’ve noticed,” I say. “It’s annoying.”

That gets me the laugh, low and real, the one that doesn’t match the rest of him. Two of his crew members appear at the end of the aisle, one of them with a cart loaded with PVC pipe. They see Silas and me, and slow slightly, clearly unsure whether they’re interrupting.

They’ve broken the moment between us. I appreciate that they’re not sure.

Silas glances at them. “Give me a minute.”

They reverse without comment, telling me everything I need to know about how that dynamic works.

“I have to get back,” he says.

“I know. You’re important people. I got a crew, too, you know.”

This time, he elbows my arm gently, almost reverently. “We’re both important people.”

He doesn’t move right away. He looks at me the way he looked at me across the table in my back room, quiet and focused. I wait to see what he does next, perfectly comfortable following his lead now.

“Thursday,” he says. “Are you open Thursday evening?”

“Until seven,” I say.

He nods once, apparently satisfied. “I’ll have a couple guys come by to do the install. And I’ll come with them.”