"For this. You're all right," he said. Like the first night, like the beginning of all of it, she smiled full, uncomplicated, the kind she didn't hold back anymore. "I know," she said. "That's what I mean."
She went back to the couch. He sat at the table for a while, not working, just sitting. The fourth morning, he drove her back to her apartment. The heat was restored and helped her carry her box back up, and stood in her doorway while she set things down. And she turned around, and they were closer than they'd planned.
And Marcus took her face in his hands and kissed her. And she kissed him back the way someone kisses when they've been waiting for something long enough that the waiting itself has become a kind of home and now the waiting is finally over. She pulled back after a moment and looked at him. 6 years, she said. I know, he said.
I'm sorry it took me that long to see you clearly. You saw me, she said. You were just working up to it. He laughed. A real one.
Surprised himself with it. That's a generous interpretation, he said. It's the accurate one. She stepped back but kept one hand on his chest. The way you keep your hand on something you've just confirmed is solid.
Go to work. You've got Earl waiting. Earl can wait. Earl has waited long enough for both of you. She stepped back fully.
I'll call you tonight. He went to work. Earl looked at him when he walked into the shop and said, "Without looking up from the motor he was working on." "You finally did something. How do you know that?"
"Because you're here on time and you're not brooding." Earl unscrewed something. "Also, you forgot your coffee." Marcus looked down at his empty hand. "Yeah," he said.
"I forgot my coffee." Earl handed him half of his thermos without comment. That was February. By March, the relationship was no longer a question among people who knew them. Kenny Puit had figured it out.
The first time Marcus came by the marina on a Wednesday and spent 40 minutes talking to Clare in the parking lot after the official business was done. Earl had known since January. Dileia had decided in December. The rest of the river community processed it. The way small communities process everything slowly with opinions and then with acceptance when it became clear that neither of them was going to be destabilized by the opinions.
Walter Bennett called Marcus in March. He called not texted which meant something. I'd like to have a conversation with you. Walter said not about the past about the future. Marcus sat in his truck outside the shop.