I’m tired, exhausted, confused, and wrung out by the up-and-down of the last minute and a half, and I wonder for a moment whether I should be warning him aboutme, that if he’s concerned about doing things in the wrong order then maybe I’m no good for him at all because I’m not sure I’ve ever done anythingright, but this interaction has been complicated enough already.
“Yes,” I say. “I’d like that.”
He smiles. Gideon has a thousand micro-expressions, always hinting and gesturing at one emotion or another, but this is asmile, pure and pretty as sunlight on fresh snow.
“Good,” he says, and the front door opens and a rectangle of light falls across us.
“Andrea!” Lucia shouts, both arms up in a victory pose as she stands in the doorway. “Frank! She’s returned! In one piece!”
“How many pieces were we expecting?” Frank calls from somewhere inside the house.
Lucia comes out to where we’re standing and takes my face in her hands. Gideon’s off to the side, gone quiet again.
“If you ever pull something like that again I’ll kill you,” Lucia says, her earrings still wobbling. “I don’tcarethat you’re thirty-three—”
“Two.”
“—I’ll do it myself to save Rick and your father the heartache,” she finishes, which doesn’t make any sense, but it’s not my place to argue. “God. I’m so glad you’re okay.”
“Me too,” I say, hugging Lucia back and also acutely aware of Gideon, holding my huge frame pack, standing there blank-faced like he’s at attention. “You know Gideon, right?” I ask when Lucia finally pulls back.
“I believe we’ve met,” she says, her voice suddenly about ten degrees cooler. She holds out a hand. “Lucia Dawson. Thank you so much for keeping Andrea safe.”
“Happy to help, ma’am,” Gideon says in the same voice he uses to talk to Forest Service Dispatch.
“Can I invite you in? We’re just about to have dinner and we’d be delighted if you would join us,” Lucia goes on. She doesn’t really mean for him to accept and everyone here knows it, but we’ve all been raised with the same intricacies of manners and politeness, so I let Southern Hospitality Theater play out.
“I’m afraid my ride is waiting on me and I’ve really got to get home as well,” Gideon says. “Appreciate the offer, though.”
“Maybe some other time.”
“I look forward to it,” Gideon says, then nods at me. “I’d best be going.”
He hands over my pack, and he steadies me with a hand on my arm while I get the strap over one shoulder.
“Call me?” I ask, because I’m suddenly not sure what to say or what the rules are, here, on a front porch in what technically counts as polite society.
“Of course,” Gideon says, and he sways a little on his feet and glances down at my mouth and there’s a second where I think he’s going to kiss me, in front of Silas and Lucia, but instead he smiles at me and nods at Lucia and then he’s down the steps, striding back to his friend waiting in the car. I try not to be disappointed.
“Come on. I made pot roast with mashed potatoes and there’s ice cream for dessert,” she says, and yeah, those are basically the magic words.
“You’re amazing,” I tell her as I let her herd me through the front door.
“I know,” she says, and rests one hand lightly on my shoulder.
* * *
I’m moisturizingthe ever-living fuck out of my entire body after my shower when there’s a knock on the bathroom door.
“I’m still naked!” I shout, because I like to give pertinent information first.
“Phone!” Lucia calls back. “Again!”
“How many times have theycalled?”
“What?”
I grab my robe, shrug it on, and open the door.
