ARRvol34 master reduced - Flipbook - Page 59
“Pleasure,” he said. She couldn’t place him, but there was something familiar about the way he snapped down a little copper saucer
containing the bill with the tips of all four fingers and thumb.
“We’d rather leave it open…” but Jay was already down at the other
end of the glossy plank.
The drink tasted like cordial and bitters but wasn’t syrupy, and
went down easy. He put cash on the saucer and they struggled
back into wet jackets. He called to Jay on the way out, who sent an
expressionless nod down the bar.
They stepped outside into the mist and continued on to his
apartment. He cleared off a space on the sofa and offered her a dry
sweatshirt. He poured dark beer and played music, needle crackling on vinyl. One song stirred her so much that the goosebumps
traveled all the way up to her face. She asked about the wall lined
with carved wooden sculptures of animals. He picked one up off
the floor in a corner littered with curled shavings, and handed it to
her. She ran her fingers over the intricate cuts and details made by
those hands of his. That whole first year was a blinding white high.
They neglected everything except each other, barely slept, skipped
enough work to get fired.
On another rainy evening, a couple of years later, he ran into Jay
at the airport, their luggage riding along side each other’s on the
carousel. It occurred to him that it had been a long time since he’d
seen any of his friends. They chatted as they hurried through the
chill outside toward the ride share stop. He was telling Jay about
how nice it’d been to get back home, do a hunting trip with his dad,
watch a few games with his brother. His phone buzzed and Jay had
seen her name illuminated on the screen.
“I’m thirty minutes away,” he told her, his brow making a bell
curve as his mind considered the most likely mood she’d be in when
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