?Not in here.?
?Oh, come on.?
Mike shook his head. ?The smoke gets into everything. Outside.?
Andrew went to the front door, opened it a crack. ?It?s really dark out there.?
?It?s night.?
?No, I mean really, really, no streetlights, pit of hell dark.?
Keone giggled, ran past him out into the night.
?So the question is,? Mike said, ?are you as brave as a twelve-year-old??
Andrew rolled his eyes. ?Shit.? He took a disposable lighter out of his pocket, flicked the flame, and held it in front of him as he went out the door and shut it behind him.
Linda laughed. ?He?s okay. What?s the problem??
?No problem.? Mike sipped coffee.
?Oh, bullshit. You can?t stand the kid. It?s all over your face.?
?I just wasn?t ready for him.?
?I still don?t understand what he?s doing here,? Linda said. ?You didn?t invite him, and it doesn?t seem like he wants to be here.?
Mike shifted in his seat. ?It?s complicated.?
?Uh-huh. That?s your way of saying don?t ask.?
?Sorry, didn?t mean it that way.?
?That?s okay.? Linda ran a finger absently around the rim of her wineglass. ?You?re cut from the same cloth as Jacob, my husband. You?re both closed off. You don?t talk. I never understood that about him. Such ugliness on the job every day. Why do the men who need to talk most always wall themselves off?? She got a faraway look in her eye. ?Purse snatchers don?t carry guns. They don?t turn and shoot you.?
?I?m sorry, Linda.?
She put her chin in her hand, rested her elbow on the table. ?How long do you have to live out here in the wilderness before you forget everything??
?You can forget your troubles,? Mike said in a small voice. ?But they don?t forget you.?
A long silence stretched.
Linda drew breath, held it, then exhaled slowly. ?I?m a lot of fun at a dinner party, huh??
Mike forced a smile.
Keone came through the front door, an impish grin wide on his face. He held something cupped in his hands.
Mike came to attention. ?What do you got there, boy??
Keone ran to the table, dropped the object in the middle and ran back out the front door again, screaming laughter.
Hairy legs. The thing Keone had dumped on the table scurried among the dirty dishes.
?Shit.? Mike fell over backward in his chair.
Linda shrieked.
