Page 22 of The Corruption of Hollis Brown

“How?” Hollis was certain that this guy was either about to skip town or be found in the woods frozen to death.

Walt met his gaze again. “Well, you wouldn’t be talking to me if you had anyone else to talk to. So, I think at bare minimum, I can give you that.”

“And what can I give you?” Hollis asked.

Walt smiled.

A real one this time, with all his teeth showing. It transformed his face, in a way that made Hollis immediately want to look away. Eyes squinted into half-moons, canines sharp in the late-fall starlight.

“You’re enough as you are,” Walt said.

Hollis huffed humorlessly. “Is that your way of saying that you’re lonely?”

Walt shrugged. “Aren’t we all?”

And that was the rub.

As terrible as it was to admit, this guy was quite literally doing exactly what Hollis claimed he couldn’t: making someone like him enough to offer to save him. Walt had even talked himself into a way out of standing half-dressed in the cold.

Hollis looked down at his shoes. At the edges of Walt’s beat-up Chuck Taylors across from his. This . . . felt so easy.

Hollis loved Annie and Yulia, but he couldn’t remember the last time it was this easy to talk about his feelings with another guy. He felt seen, even though it was clear Walt didn’t exactly like what he was seeing.

Walking away from this felt like a missed opportunity. It was unhinged to even think of this as an opportunity. He’d known this guy for thirty minutes and most of those they had spent arguing.

But Hollis already felt lighter inside, better than he had going into the woods.

Walt waited for him patiently. Steady and still. Not eerie still, like he’d been the first time Hollis saw him. Quiet still. The way old people did when they were waiting for the bus without a cell phone to look at, or on a bench while they were feeding the birds.

“Where do you live?” Hollis asked.

Walt’s gaze sharpened. “I don’t sleep far from here. It’s nowhere you’d want to visit, that’s for sure. But I can meet you tomorrow at the corner of Ridge and Greenway. Near where we met today.”

“What time?”

“Fifteen to midnight, I gotta work during the day,” Walt said immediately.

“That’s so late—”

“It’s later than that right now,” Walt pointed out. “I’m sure you don’t want people to see us hanging out or whatever. I’m not exactly polite company.”

Hollis huffed. “Fine. Eleven forty-five at Ridge and Greenway. You better be there.”

Walt grinned again. “You’ve got it.”

Hollis looked over his shoulder at his house. “I’m . . . gonna leave now. Have a good night, I guess.”

“Stay safe,” Walt said.

“It’s like twelve feet away, dude.” Hollis laughed. “You stay safe. Don’t freeze to death.”

Walt laughed back, soft and deep. “No promises.”

When Hollis put his key in the door, Walt gave him a sloppy salute, then turned and left.

Green

His ma was asleep at the kitchen table.