Chapter 22: Early

I got to Birdie's school at twenty to six the next day.

The baby was on my chest, and Dennis carried the diaper bag.

I had told myself he would be late.

I had told myself he would be exactly on time, which was the same as late.

The parking lot was almost full.

At the back, in the last row, under a bare tree, sat Randall's grey car.

I knew it before I saw the plate.

"He's already here," Dennis said.

"It's twenty to six."

"The play is at six."

"He said four."

"Steph. Look at the windshield."

There was a paper cup on the dashboard, and a sweater folded on the passenger seat.

There was a sandwich bag with the crust of a sandwich in it.

He had been sitting in that car for a long time.

We went in through the double doors and into the auditorium.

It smelled of floor wax and construction paper.

Eleven rows of folding chairs faced a stage with a painted cardboard tree.

Randall sat in the third row, on the aisle, with his coat folded over the seat beside him.

He had put a second coat on the chair next to that one, and a baby carrier on the floor.

Nothing was in his hands.

I had not seen him with empty hands in five years.

"You saved seats," I said.

"For you, and for Dennis, and for her."

"You've been here since two."

"A little after. The custodian let me in at three."

"The custodian let you in?"

"I asked what the rules were," Randall said. "He said I could help carry chairs."

I looked at his hands.

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