Page 77 of ClickBack

She takes it back, and I put my arm along the cushion behind her. When she settles against me, I keep my mouth off her. I don’t want her to think a kiss is how I expect this to end.

Beyond her neighbor’s roof, a few stars are still visible. I tell her about Pops sending me outside with binoculars he bought at a pawnshop. I spent half that summer looking at the wrong thing while he gave directions from a lawn chair.

“He wouldn’t just show you?” she asks.

“Said I’d remember it if I found it myself.”

“Did you?”

“Remember being frustrated as hell.”

She laughs against my shoulder. I look down at her, relieved enough that I have to leave the moment alone.

As the sky begins to lighten, she points above the houses. “Big Dipper?”

I follow her finger. A red light blinks.

“Plane.”

“That could happen to anyone.”

“Sure.”

Her hand comes over mine beneath the blanket. We sit there until she gets cold, then put out the fire and go inside.

A few days later, Cam calls as I leave training. Toronto is closer to putting together an offer Philly might accept. He wants the next week kept clear.

“Clear how?” I ask.

“No disappearing somewhere I need a connecting flight to find you.”

“I’m in a parking lot in Pennsylvania.”

“Excellent. Stay accessible.”

I put my bag in the truck after we hang up. My legs are heavy from lateral work, and there is a message from Giselle that came while I was inside.

Zel: How’d training go?

Me: My trainer is an asshole.

Zel: He is doing the job you pay him to do.

Me: Whose side are you on?

Zel: The side with functional knees.

I laugh, set the phone down, and sit there a minute. I could go home. Instead, I start thinking about the cabinet beneath her sink.

The left door hangs crooked unless she lifts it before closing it. The first time I opened it, I thought I’d broken the damn thing. She reached around me, bumped it with her hip, and went on talking.

I asked how long it had been doing that.

“Long enough that I know how to close it.”

Apparently, I’m still bothered by that answer. I drive to Lowe’s and spend ten minutes discovering how many ways a cabinet door can attach to a cabinet.

An employee stops beside me. “You working with a face frame?”