“Will he roll off the bed?” Cary asked.
Shiloh shook her head.
Junie was in the living room, playing with her toy kitchen. The living room had more toys than furniture. (And it had a lot of furniture.)“Cary,” Junie whispered, holding her hands to her cheeks. “You’re in myhouse.”
He frowned with his eyebrows, like he was just realizing that was true.
Shiloh took hold of the back of a dining room chair. “Do you...”
Cary looked at her.
“Do you want a cup of coffee?” she asked.
He looked at her for another second, his expression flat.
Then he nodded.
Shiloh released the back of the chair.
“Icould make coffee,” Junie said.
“We’ll both make coffee.” Shiloh walked into the kitchen. To her relief, Cary followed.
She filled the coffeemaker with water. Shiloh never drank coffee this late in the day.
Cary stood near her without touching anything. “This room is different.”
“We’ve been redoing it piece by piece.” Shiloh had put in new red Formica countertops and painted the cabinets pale yellow. She was saving up for new linoleum.
“You weren’t lying...” Cary said.
She looked up at him. She was scooping out the coffee grounds.
“Your kids are cute.”
Shiloh laughed, relaxing slightly. (Very slightly.) “Thanks. Sorry about Gus. He’s just... in a rough spot.”
“I don’t mind Gus,” Cary said.
Shiloh nodded. She felt tearful again. She dumped the coffee into the filter.
“They’re younger than I expected,” he said.
“Oh.” She shrugged. Closed the lid of the coffeemaker. Pressed the button.
“You must have had a difficult time of it,” he said. “Recently.”
“Huh,” Shiloh said, like a badly formed laugh. “Yeah.”
Junie came rushing into the kitchen with a plastic teacup. Shiloh held a finger over her mouth as a reminder. “Gus is asleep.”
“Here’s your coffee,” Junie stage-whispered to Cary. “Do you like sugar?”
“Yeah,” he said.
“Good, ’cause there’s sugar in there.”
“Thank you.”
