Chapter 17: Wednesday

Tuesday came with a thin rain that stopped by noon.

By evening the lake was flat again.

Josh and Meg had gone to bed early, in separate rooms.

I took a blanket from the main bedroom and walked down to the end of the dock.

It was the last night of the rule.

Wes was already sitting there in the dark, with his boots off and his feet over the water.

He did not stand up.

He waited for me to decide where to sit.

I sat down next to him, with no foot of boards between us this time.

"Ask me anything," he said. "Midnight, it stops."

"It doesn't have to stop."

"That's a different rule. We can write it later."

I laughed, and I put my head against his shoulder.

"The Peru contract," I said. "Josh said you had one waiting."

"I turned it down Saturday night, while you were asleep."

"Saturday."

"I'm telling you now. It was my life, so I didn't ask."

He said it carefully.

"I wanted you to hear it from me, and not find it later."

"You gave up three years of work."

"I gave up three years of airports. The city water authority in Chicago has been asking since spring."

"Wes."

"I'm not following you. I'm taking a job in a city, and you happen to live in it."

He waited a moment.

"If that's too close, tell me, and I'll rent a few blocks farther."

I turned my face into his sweatshirt, and I felt him breathe.

"I don't want you two blocks away," I said.

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