A real one, the kind that reached everything. He looked back at the wall. "Get me the screws," he said. 20 minutes later, he was on the ladder she'd found in her garage, a six-foot aluminum step ladder. Third rung missing, which he noted and which waved off.
And they had settled into a rhythm of bickering that felt strange only because it felt so comfortable. "It's crooked," Clare said. "It's not crooked. I'm looking right at it. You're looking at it from an angle.
I'm looking at it straight. You're standing 3 ft to the left of center. Come stand here." He pointed at the floor directly below the rod. She walked over, stood where he pointed, tilted her head.
Okay, it's close. It's level. I used a level. Where did you even get a level? My toolbox.
Who carries a level in their toolbox? Someone who hangs things straight. She laughed. Not a polite laugh. A real one.
The kind that surprised her. And for just a second, Darius let himself feel what it was like to make a person laugh like that. Then he finished securing the bracket, descended the ladder, and they unfolded the two curtains together a deep charcoal linen that she'd had folded on the couch for apparently 2 months and slid them onto the rod and stepped back. The room looked better, dramatically better. The curtains grounded the whole space, pulled the gray in the rug up to eye level, made the window feel intentional instead of forgotten.
Clare stood with her arms crossed, nodding slowly. Okay, she said. Those are really good. They're curtains. No, I mean the placement, the height.
You hung them high and wide. She looked at him. You've done this before. I've done most things before. Interior design, HVAC, but I've rented spaces.
You hang curtains high and wide, and the room looks bigger. It's not complicated. She was looking at him with an expression he couldn't quite read. Not quite surprise. Something more specific than that.
What? He said nothing. She turned back to the curtains. I'm just She seemed to reconsider. Nothing.
He picked up his toolbox. I'll fill those old anchor holes on my way out. You've got some spackle somewhere. Bathroom cabinet. Bottom shelf.