Andy stood with Cadell on the sidewalk beside his car. The engine thrummed, and the air conditioning swooshed inside where Emily was happily playing with the tightened buckles of her car seat.
Cadell said, “Look, a lot of stuff happened tonight.”
His hand drifted toward her, his fingers reaching for hers.
Andy stepped back and glanced toward the windows of her parents’ house. The curtains were parted, swaying, but she couldn’t see who was watching her. “Not here. You can’t touch me here.”
“What, I can’t touch your hand?”
“No. They’ll get the wrong idea. My parents are very strict about such things. There would be a fight, a huge fight. They would make me give up my fellowship rather than risk you being around me anymore.”
He blinked at her, and his eyebrows lowered. “They wouldn’t really.”
“Oh, they would. It would be a large problem.”
Cadell looked down the street where more of her friends were out for a walk. “You seem really at home here, among your family and friends.”
“Of course, I do. It’s my home.”
“I mean something else. What time can you come home tonight?”
“You mean to your house?”
Cadell looked over the car and off at the row of identical houses. “Yeah. To my house.”
“I’m not sure. There’s sure to be some sort of postmortem here.”
One side of Cadell’s mouth lifted. “Sounds ominous.”
“At least you ate a lot. I’m sure they’ll be talking about that more than anything else. My mother was ecstatic about how much of her food you ate.”
“It was pretty hot,” he said.
“Yeah, she cooks kind of spicy.”
Cadell laced his fingers together behind his back. “I’ll see you in a few hours, then?”
Andy nodded. “As soon as I can get away.”