“I’ve been gone for almost three weeks.”
“Then I’d better walk up with you.” He turned off the ignition and got out, impervious to the rain. He walked with her up the sidewalk, picking up the outdated newspapers as he went. He tossed them into a corner of her covered porch as she unlocked the door. “Don’t forget to throw those papers away tomorrow,” he said.
“No, I won’t.” She reached inside and cut off her alarm system, which had begun to hum the moment she opened the door. “I guess that means it’s safe inside.”
“Do you want to meet at the airport tomorrow, or what?”
“Uh…” She couldn’t think beyond him driving away, leaving her alone in her condo. “I hadn’t thought about it.”
“I’ll drop by the D.A.’s office around noon and ask for you. How’s that?”
“Fine. I should be finished by then.”
“Okay, see ya.” He turned to leave.
“Reede.” Instinctively she reached for him, but when he turned, she pulled her hand back. “Would you like some coffee before you go?”
“No, thanks.”
“Where are you going now?”
“I won’t know till I get there.”
“What did you have in mind?”
“Messing around.”
“Oh, well…”
“You’d better get inside.”
“I haven’t paid you yet.”
“For what?”
“The plane, your time.”
“No charge.”
“I insist.”
He cursed. “The one thing I’m not going to argue with you about is money. Got that? Now, good night.”
He turned and took two long strides before she called his name again. When he came back around, his eyes bore into hers. “I don’t want to be alone tonight,” she admitted in a rush. Even with all the crying she’d done that afternoon, her supply of tears hadn’t been exhausted. They began to roll down her cheeks as steadily as the rainfall. “Please don’t go, Reede. Stay with me.”
He moved back beneath the overhang, but his hair and shoulders were already damp. Placing his han
ds on his hips, he demanded, “Why?”
“I just told you why.”
“You’ve got to have a better reason than that, or you wouldn’t have asked.”
“All right,” she shouted at him, “I feel like crap. Is that reason enough?”
“No.”
“I’m hurting for what my mother must have suffered for my sake,” she said, making a swipe at her leaking eyes.