Chapter 24: The Early Man

On Friday, Claire left the museum at four with her coat open and her bag banging against her hip.

She had meant to be on time, and she had meant to be calm.

She was five minutes early, and her heart was going.

The Marriage Bureau smelled of floor cleaner and radiator dust.

The gray-haired clerk stood at the front desk with her glasses on their chain, and she was laughing so hard she had to hold the counter.

"Honey," she said. "You are not going to believe this."

Claire stopped in the doorway.

In the plastic chair by the water cooler, the one where she had sat nine times, sat Weston.

He wore his charcoal suit and held a paper cup in one hand.

His mother sat beside him with a white bakery box on her knees.

Ross stood against the wall with a small velvet bag, looking at nothing.

"What time did you get here?" Claire said.

"Four," said Weston.

"It's twenty to five."

"I know. I've been counting."

"He was at the door when I unlocked it," said the clerk, wiping her eyes. "He wouldn't sit anywhere else. He said that chair was his."

"It's the one with the best light," said Weston.

"It's the one I waited in."

"I wanted to see what it was like."

He lifted the cup.

"This has been sitting there a while. The water's lukewarm."

"Is it?"

"It's terrible," said Weston. "Nine times, you drank this?"

"I never drank it. I put it on the desk."

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