Page 111 of His Wall

I did not miss the covers.

He drove. His right hand was on my knee on the FDR, and his left hand was on the wheel. The late June light was coming in through the windshield in long slanted bars across both of us.

"Declan texted me three times about the wine."

"I have it."

"Where."

"In the back."

I twisted to look in the back seat. There was no wine in the back seat. There was a Vanguard tote bag, a stack of architectural reference books I had not seen him open, and a box of crackers that I had been telling him to throw away.

"Julian."

"I have it. I will get it on the way."

"You forgot."

"I did not forget. I have a stop to make."

"Mhm."

He squeezed my knee. I put my hand on top of his. He laced his fingers through mine and lifted my hand and kissed my knuckles without taking his eyes off the road.

"How was your day?"

I told him. The new case on my desk was a financial-fraud ring operating through a chain of pharmaceutical companies across three states. The architecture was layered. The shells were patterned.

"You sound excited, Cal."

"I sound interested. There is a difference."

"There is no difference. Not with you."

I looked out the window so he would not see me smile.

He stopped at the wine shop on Tenth. He left the engine running. I waited in the car with my phone in my lap.

A text from Mrs. Alvarez. A photograph of a casserole dish under foil with the caption: For your skinny boyfriend, tell him to eat.

I told Mrs. Alvarez about Julian a month after I moved out of the apartment above hers. I brought him over for Sunday dinner. She fed him three plates of rice and beans, told me he was too skinny but his eyes were kind, and made him promise to come back. He had charmed her in eleven minutes.

The same eleven minutes it had taken him to hire Claire Kent.

He came out of the wine shop with two bottles in a paper bag. He set them on the back seat and got in.

"Two."

"One for tonight. One for next time. Declan likes a backup."

I looked at him.

"You did plan it."

"I plan everything."

"You plan nothing."