She looked like someone who'd been awake since before he had someone who'd made a decision that surprised even herself. "How'd it go last night?" He asked. "After you went in?" She looked down at her mug.
We cried. We hugged. We said we missed each other. A pause. And then we argued for an hour about why I moved to Seattle in the first place.
That sounds right. She looked up at him. It was awful. Yeah, but not as awful as I thought. She said it slowly like she was still working out whether she believed it herself.
He still he's still him. He still does that thing where he talks around the actual thing instead of just saying the actual thing. He does do that and I do it too. I know I do it too. We were going around and around and at some point I just started laughing because we were both doing the same exact thing and neither of us could see it.
She shook her head. It wasn't funny. It was awful. I don't know why I laughed. Because it was true, Calvin said.
She looked at him. Sometimes things hit you as funny because they're exactly that real, he said. Nothing's funnier than recognizing yourself. She was quiet for a moment. Maya's going to be late, she said.
He looked back at the truck. Maya had the window down and was watching them with the open shameless curiosity of a 10-year-old who had decided this was interesting. Yeah. He stepped back. Sophie, she looked at him.
Good. He said, "What you did last night? Getting out of the truck. Going in. He met her eyes.
That was the hard part. She didn't say anything right away. Then you really think so? I know. So, she held his gaze for a moment.
Then she looked back toward her father's house. The curtain in the kitchen window shifted almost imperceptibly. The kind of movement you make when you're trying not to look like you're looking. He's watching, she said. Probably has been since 6 a.m. She smiled.
It was the first full smile he'd seen from her. Not the careful half smile she'd used the night before, but a real one. Brief, a little sad, but real. Go, she said. Your kid's going to be late.
He went. He got back in the truck, pulled out of the driveway. At the corner, he glanced in the rear view mirror. Sophie was still on the porch. She'd turned to face her father's house.