“Door open, okay?” I asked him. “I like the fresh air.”
“Sure,” he said. “This tea is good.”
I could see in his eyes the question:Why not coffee?It might be a while, but eventually I would be able to tell him that while in prison I’d drunk more shitty coffee than I cared to remember, simply because the water tasted like chlorine and the milk was powdered and watered down. There’d been no tea on the inside; now that I was on the outside, there was tea.
“How’s the shop?” he asked, being a good guest, inquiring after his host.
“It’s good,” I said, eyeing the antipasto. “I’m just going to start on this, okay?”
Morgan nodded and then joined me, taking olives while I took slices of hard cheese.
“Blue’s got a dab hand,” I said. “A real gift. He drew some great designs for key rings we’re making for the church bazaar. You know.” I nodded at him. “To raise money for the Grange.He’s also making fancier designs, though I don’t know what we’ll do with ‘em because they’re too fussy for the bazaar.”
Morgan nodded back, his eyes somber because he wasn’t leaving Hysham any time soon. I knew that’d been his original goal. It wasn’t any goal now.
“I want to make hand-braided hackamores,” I said. “You know, out of rawhide. I’m saving up to buy a lace cutter, but it looks like I’ll have to make a lot of key rings first.” The reality of this hit me, inside, a sharp poke that maybe my dreams of artistry would have to be supported by something more commercial and mundane.
“You could have a display at the feed and grain,” Morgan said, somewhat suddenly, sitting up with a wince. He rubbed his knee. “You know, by the cash register. A little rack that turns. Sure, people will buy at the bazaar, but there’s no reason that might stop. You could sell your fancy ones through the feed and grain.”
“You’d get a commission,” I said, tipping my head back to toss an olive into my open mouth.
“A very little one,” Morgan said. “Friendship rate.”
He went a little still, and I sensed the question in the statement, like an offer on a playground, when friendships could be formed by asking,Wanna be friends?
“That sounds good,” I said. Inside my chest relaxed even more.
We heard shouts from the field, and laughter, and finally Blue appeared in the open doorway, cheeks pink, fair hair flying about, and he was smiling. Behind him, in the growing darkness, was Jack, stomping his boots to get the mushy snow off the toes.
I stood up to gather Blue in my arms to inhale the fresh air that had collected on his skin, not thinking for a moment that I had an audience. He looked better than I’d seen him only a littlewhile before. He looked happy. Having Jack in his life was a good thing, a very good thing.
“Get a room, you two,” Jack said brightly, brushing past. “Did you eat all the olives?”
“You wound me,” Morgan said. “Look. I left the black ones for you.”
When the food was ready, we ate as though we’d been starving, and certainly our two young men made inroads on the garlic bread, leaving only a slice or two for Morgan and me.
The lemon cake we had after the meal was amazing, making me wonder why I’d never gone into town to try out the little restaurants and shops. Why I’d not connected with the townspeople more than I had. Perhaps it was time.
I made a second pot of tea in the cherry-red teapot, and we sat around the table, the lights blazing in the cabin, and talked about spreadsheets and grid maps and places that Star had once said he’d like to travel to. Voices and laughter rose to the ceiling; the quiet solitude of my environment transformed into something lively and warm. Something other than what it had been.
I wasn’t on my own any more. I had Blue, and Morgan, and Jack. And Mabel and Mister Rocket. I had my workshop and my tools, and a craft I wanted to perfect. I had everything I needed and more.
Then Blue jumped up and pushed my chair back so he could sit in my lap, a sweep of warm air from around his shoulders settling upon me, as gently as though he’d flown to me on wings. My arm went around his waist, and I looked up so he could kiss me. Right there in front of everybody.
“Seriously,” said Jack with a laugh, taking the very last slice of garlic bread and shoving it in his mouth. “You two need to get a room.”
I saw Morgan smile at this saucy statement, and stopped a second, never having seen him really smile before. Then I kissed Blue and closed my eyes, trapping the moment for memory.
CHAPTER 30
blue
When the dishes were cleared and stacked in the sink for later, a rarity in the cabin, I took Jack by the hand and led him into the living room. The cabin was small enough that we weren’t very far from the two men at the kitchen table, huddled over Wolfe’s laptop, as Morgan started a spreadsheet that we could all access.
Together, they planned to research railroad maps to see if they could figure where to look more closely, on the assumption that Star had gotten off the train near Hysham.
That wasn’t likely. The storm had been pretty bad that day, and the train had been going pell-mell down a slope. The Star I knew would have kept going, ducking his head through tunnels, seeking shelter inside a boxcar. The plan had been for us to meet Nimble in Santa Monica; even with both of us off the train, Star would have stuck to the plan.
