Chapter 53

“What time is it?” he said, his toothbrush hanging out of his mouth. He was nervous now. “Nine.”

He rinsed and cleaned the sink. “Okay.”

“So what should we do?”

“I was thinking…you know, since you’re so good with words…would you help me write a letter to Eileen? I wouldn’t give it to her or anything, but—”

“No, I see…yeah, that’s a great idea.” There went my morning of lazy sex in the sun. “Sure, I’ll do that for you. Come on, let’s pick your brains first.”

“Scary thought.” He joined me in the living room and sat, fidgeting.

“Okay, here we go.” I sat by him and spread some loose sheets of paper on the table and gave him the pen. “What would you start with?”

He rolled the pen between his fingers, staring at it. “Sometimes people meet and travel together for a while, down the road they’ve chosen together, until one of them decides that maybe that road isn’t leading him anywhere.”

“That’s very good,” I said. “But I wouldn’t use the word anywhere.”