Page 185 of Under Story

“I was thinking that you were bold. That I liked you,” Eli says. “I also thought a lot about how much I wanted to kiss you.”

“You should have.”

“I would have, if your boyfriend hadn’t found us.”

“He ruined everything,” Laurel agrees, snuggling closer.

“Well,” says Eli, “not quite.”

They lie there, peaceful and close, warmed by each other. The wind sings in an alto voice, then a soprano.

“You know,” Laurel says, “there’s something else I’ve always wondered. At Clare and Walter’s unwedding, when you and I went into the gazebo—it felt like something was going to happen. Like you were about to lean in.”

“You looked alarmed. So I didn’t.”

“I think most people would be alarmed if their ex-spouse moved to kiss them,” says Laurel, though she is inwardly delighted. “Was that the only time you wanted to? After the divorce, I mean?”

“You’re fishing,” says Eli.

“Let me.”

“No.” He sighed. “It wasn’t.”

“What was the first?”

“In the library at McMurdo—when you drew the Arc and the basin, and it looked like the Duoverse.”

Laurel looks up, astonished. “I never knew.”

“I hoped not,” Eli says.

“And the next time?”

“After the dive.” He pauses. “Did you ever have an impulse?”

“At that point? I don’t think so. Not consciously, at least.”

“Well, that tracks. Even after we slept together in Cedar, you wanted nothing to do with me.”

“I’m still sorry about that. But I’ve always wanted something to do with you—ever since the senior talent show.”

“What if we’d gotten together back then?” Eli asks. “We could have skipped over so much.”

“Yeah,” says Laurel, “but we might have burned out before we could really get started.”

“You would have married that awful mycologist.”

“Christopher? God forbid. And you would have married Angela.”

“We could have gotten divorced at the same time.”

Laurel giggles. Then she remembers something.

“Eli.” She reaches for the watch so abruptly that it skids across the table. “Gloria thought this could be a circuit. I wonder if it would respond to the electricity in our bodies.” Laurel puts her palm to the front of the case and holds Eli’s hand to the back. “Press harder,” she says, but the device shows no reaction.

“What if we touch the plates?” asks Eli.

They try again. This time, the watch twitches, and her arm begins to tingle.