Chapter 8: Let Him Say It

Alma left at nine, with her tote and her flat little wave.

At the door she looked back at me with something very close to pity.

I looked back at her with something very close to cheerfulness.

Then Elias and I were alone with the dishes drying in the rack.

He leaned against the counter and rubbed his neck.

"My aunt is a lot," he said.

"I like her."

"She likes you. She doesn't like anybody. She hasn't liked a person since 2009."

I pulled out a chair and sat, and put my feet in his lap when he sat down opposite me.

"Elias," I said. "If you had a million dollars, what would you do with it?"

He lifted an eyebrow.

"Fix the roof on this building," he said. "Put heat in the floor."

"Buy the hardware store's old sign back from the man who bought it at auction."

"And with ten million?"

"Same, but faster."

"A hundred?"

He studied my face.

"Why?"

"No reason."

"Kasey."

"Is there anything you'd like to tell me?" I asked, lightly. "About yourself. About your money. About your day."

For one long, weighted second, I watched him decide.

His mouth opened.

I saw it, the whole truth, rising up behind his teeth.

Then his shoulders came down.

"I love you," he said. "That's the whole list."

I smiled at him until it hurt.

"That's a good list," I said.

I took my feet off his lap, walked around the table, and sat down on top of him instead.

He put his hands on my hips, surprised.

"Tell me something true," I said, against his ear.

"I love you."

"Something else."

"I'm terrible at this," he said. "I'm terrible at saying things."

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