He pulled his right hand from his pocket and pointed.
I looked over my shoulder again.Hanging from the seam of the door just below the knob was the loop of a burgundy lanyard.
“I was heading back out, and they swung behind me,” he answered without me asking.
“That is so fucked up.”
His laugh sputtered, more of a cough.A bodily function he couldn’t control.
I snorted.One corner of my lip pulled upward but I forced it back into place.“What are you gonna do?”
“I’ve called a couple of friends, but I haven’t heard back.”His shivering wasn’t sporadic anymore, but a constant tremor.“You don’t happen to have a ladder in your place?”
My expression was enough of an answer for him.
Chuckling, he nodded.“I didn’t figure you would.Mine is locked in the shed.”
“You have an open window?”
“Yeah the kitchen one under the carport is unlocked.It’s just gonna be a pain in the ass to get up to it.”
“Is it the same size as the one on my side?”
“Yeah.”
“Remi,” I scoffed.“Even if you got up to it, you’d never fit in that thing.”
“It’d be tight, but I could do it.”
“Maybe if you dislocated both of your shoulders.”
The smile that spread across his face was too much for the situation, too big for all this wide-open space to contain.Too overwhelming for my system to know what to do with.
“It doesn’t matter, anyway.You don’t have a ladder, and I can’t get to mine.I’m sure one of my friends will get back to me soon.”
I chewed on my bottom lip and glanced toward my open door.
“You don’t have to invite me in,” he said as if the prospect was as traumatizing to him as it was to me.
Behind him a line of near black chased after the sunlight across the sky.Pulling my coat tight around me, I pointed out, “The sun is setting.It’s cold out here, and it’s gonna keep getting colder.You don’t even have a coat on.”
“I’m fine.I promise to knock on your door before I lose any fingers or toes.”
I forced myself to look up at his face.His thick eyebrows flicked upward, and he met my gaze.His lips pursed slightly, the way they did when he was thinking.Not for the first time, I wished I could read his mind.
Jerking my head to the door I’d left open behind me, I took a step backward.“I’m gonna go inside.”
“Good.”
I was half-turned away from him, when he spoke again.“Leese, I’m sorry I scared you.”
The apology fell from his lips like it cost him nothing and froze me like a deer in headlights.There had been a vast list of sorrys I’d wanted from this man, but they never came.Then there was this one that he just gave away.What was I supposed to do with it?
“Um ...I’m sorry I yelled at you.”
“Thanks.”He jerked his chin toward my rental.“Get inside.I’ll be okay.”
In the quiet and warmth of the indoors, I took my coat off and threw it on one of the kitchen table chairs.And I ignored the little voice remarking about how unsafe it was to leave him out there like that.He said he’d be fine.
