Chapter 5: Thursday

On Thursday at 5:40 I sat in my car across the street from the insurance agency with a cold coffee in the cupholder.

I had moved into the flat above the kitchen on Wednesday.

It took me one trip, because I had one suitcase.

Neil came out of the building at 6:05.

He had his briefcase in one hand and a paper grocery bag in the other.

He put the bag on the back seat, got into his car and pulled out.

He did not turn toward home.

I followed him out of the city.

We went north along the lake, past the marina and the dark water tower, onto a road with no streetlights and one yellow sign that said Pine Point.

He turned onto a gravel drive between two cedar trees.

I stopped on the road with my lights off.

At the end of the drive there was a small house with a porch, close to the water.

It had every light on.

I got out and stood behind the cedar trunk.

Neil carried the bag up the porch steps, and the front door opened before he reached it.

Cora stood in the doorway in jeans and a gray sweatshirt.

She took the bag from him and said something, and he laughed.

I hadn't heard him laugh like that since our second year.

They went inside.

Through the kitchen window I watched her put cans on a shelf while he stood next to her with his coat still on.

He touched her arm.

She leaned against his shoulder.

There was a curtain at the next window, a thick white one, and behind it the dark shape of a man's head and shoulders moved across the glass.

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