RIGID RED NUMERALS branded the darkness. David watched them flex in their staccato ballet, contorting each minute from one shape to the next. He found himself waiting for the climactic shift from 3:59 to 4:00 with nervous anticipation, unsure if the players could manage such a complex maneuver. Nancy’s breath ebbed and flowed beside him, a conscious pattern aping sleep. Neither of them wanted to admit to their restlessness. The awkward remnants of their spat still ached after the conversation trailed off, phantom pain in a severed limb.
It was hard to blame her. David’s announcement had been uncharacteristically terse, the only way he could get it out without blurting the whole thing. He was going out of town for a few days. Where? Up north. What city? No city, just a stretch of rural highway. Why? Police business. A convenient feint, that. Intangible as a cloak of mist, conforming to the shape of any story. He could’ve cobbled together a better lie, but chose not to. The deceit felt gentler if he kept it clumsy. Clever lies hurt less but cut deeper.
Nancy rolled onto her side. David turned to face her. They regarded one another across the valley of loose blanket dipping between their bodies.
“There’s something you’re not telling me,” Nancy said.
“I guess that’s true.”
“Why?”
David stared at the darkened ceiling. Whorls of motion and colour danced over the stucco, ocular white noise. “Because I’m afraid you wouldn’t believe me.”
Nancy mulled this over, a wrinkle folding the ridge between her eyes. “I don’t think you’re having an affair, if that’s what you’re afraid of.”
David took her hand in his. “I didn’t think you would.”
“Is it about what happened to Walter?”
After a moment’s pause, David nodded.
“Is it a . . . some kind of a gang thing? Like cop killers or something?”
“No, nothing like that,” David said, unsure whether or not to call this a lie.
“Are you in danger?”
David let his gaze drift back to the ceiling. “I guess that depends on what you’re asking. Is what I’m doing dangerous? Yeah, probably. But I’ve got a dangerous job. You know that. But am I in danger, are you and Brandon in danger?” He squeezed her hand, his eyes meeting hers again. “No. Absolutely not.”
She squeezed back. “I love you.”
“I love you too.”
Sleep came soon after.