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I cringed at the mention of my childhood house. “No, I sold that thing after my parents died,” I said.
“Oh, sorry,” she frowned.
“It’s okay,” I smiled. “Got myself a place out on Juniper Hill. Invested the rest of the money from the sale. With the job, I live comfortably enough.”
She smiled and nodded. “That’s good. Must be nice.”
“It is,” I agreed. “Close enough to everything, but far enough to give me some privacy. Obviously, the neighbors can be a little bit of a nuisance, but it’s a little price to pay.”
She smiled at that and took a sip from her coffee. We fell into an awkward silence for a few seconds before I cleared my throat and asked, “So, Hartford. How’s life in the big city?”
“Manchester, actually,” Andrea smiled, shifting a bit in her seat. “Not really a city life, but close enough.”
“Big difference from the small town, huh?”
“You could say that,” she nodded. I could tell she was uncomfortable, but for the life of me couldn’t think of anything else to say. The only thing left was to tell her about my sex life.
“I thought you had moved further away,” I said, trying to dance around the same subject. How many ways are there to ask the same question?
“Well, my husband got a job at Ford as a mechanic. They have a branch in Hartford, so Manchester was the closest we could afford.”
“What do you do?” I asked, purposefully dodging any questions regarding Dennis.
She smiled, and the look she gave me was like a silent thank you. “I’m a secretary at KarpTech,” she said.
“The software company?”
“You heard of it.”
I nodded. “Our entire s
ystem at the station runs on their software. Pretty durable stuff. Can’t remember the last time something crashed.”
“Yeah, they’re proud of the work they do,” she said.
“You mean we, right?”
She smiled. I could get used to that smile. “Well, I haven’t really told them that I was leaving,” she said. “So, I think that they’ll probably fire me for this little stunt.”
I nodded and took another sip of coffee. No matter what we did, conversation seemed to always circle back to the elephant in the room. I looked at her, met her gaze, and she looked away, biting her lower lip. She looked gorgeous, curled up on the couch like that, cradling her coffee mug. How could anyone lay a hand on something so beautiful?
“Bobby told you, didn’t he?” she asked, looking at me. I saw a glint in her eye, and wondered if it was just the light, or if she was holding back her tears.
“Told me what?” I feigned stupidity.
She smiled and bit her lip again. I knew she could see right through that lie.
“Yeah, he gave me an idea,” I said. “But don’t be angry. We’re tight, Bobby and I, and we spend a lot of time together. It shouldn’t be a surprise that he’d talk to me about things that bothered him.”
“You two have always been like that,” she said. “Two peas in a pod.”
“It comes in handy when you stay behind like we did,” I explained. “It’s hard to make new friends when you’re surrounded by college kids.”
She looked at me for a beat before asking, “What did he tell you?”
“That you were having trouble,” I said, deciding a small lie was better than the complete truth. “I was with him last night when you called. He seemed worried.”
“Is that why he asked you to babysit me?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.
