na's

e, just a couple of warning drops smacking the roof, then a downpour. That smell, you kno

face me. Up front, Anselm kept the jazz station low, like he was hoping the static wouldn't swallow it, but the wipers won that little battle pretty quick.

lf umbrella, still did his whole routine: took down our license plate on a damp clipboard, like he hadn't seen

kar stared at his phone like there

e feet feel in a house like this. Out the kitchen window, the rain smeared everything. Rykar dropped his keys (deliberate, like

t o

," I reminded him

d up. "Let me ge

irty-one st

cket, folded it neat over a stool, cufflinks flashing du

d you to a woman while

to a board seat," h

ou told her you'd m

dinner,

go of m

sed to do in that room. Six hundred people, half trying to get somethin

y. "So why was I

caught that and tried again, voice softer, like he realized he'd st

se earrings, old garnet drops from my mother, never got any lighter. I took

me supportive

ant it

t I'm the

d lost.

. Invisible until it's missing and t

lmost, but it fizzle

m another genera

's the worst thing. She didn't say a

everyone

n it, Rykar. Not

loshed, but he left the spill. "What do you

to stand u

was watching us then." Tha

o a closing and no one cared. Now I show up at a red light and suddenly there's a

e everythin

anyone in arm's

rain drumming on the skylight. His voice, when he spoke again, droppe

guy from Hallora

, or w

irectly. "You know

scares me," I

like he expected bad news to shoot out. The phone had been glued to him all night, now that I think a

t emailed Tue

ital? Merid

tone. "Several partners have concerns about the cohesion of the leadership picture.

sto

always a second sh

he said. "Tha

on," I

word t

You wore the same damn suit as ever

ent. Not ev

t email?" The question was out

nothing to see but his own reflection. Not yes, not no. More l

gins of Rykar's life. I handled the landlord, the busted radiator, the guy who said 'let's circle back

h they shook. "Handle what?" My voice was so small, I almost d

ddle of bourbon, and reached for the bottle a