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"Yeah, I think so," I said "Negative results, like we expected"

Chuck Alht eyes were fixed on me "Don’t be scared ofto shtened of the boy But I did feel very uncomfortable around him, and I was concerned about him in an i from outside, "Chuck! Hey, buddy, you in there? Who’s here?" To ed in the blink of an eye, and the boy punched me in the stomach as hard as he could His lips moved as he hit; I saw them on my way down to the floor

"Get out of here!" he screa position on the cold dirt "Get out! You’re trespassing!"

Toroaning as it keptafter he’d shoved it "Son, son! Oh, my God, Chuck, what did you do?"

Tolliver was atme up "You little son of a bitch," he said to the boy beforeto you"

I didn’t say anything, I only stared up into his eyes, ain I wanted to be ready this ti that happened was a lot of talk Toized over and over Tolliverto let anyone else pound on me He also made it clear that he didn’t want the boy anywhere aroundTolliver said the police had been glad to welcome us here to this same spot the day before Tom informed us that it wasn’t the day before and that we needed to get the hell off his property Tolliver said we’d be glad to, and he was lucky eren’t calling the police to report his son’s assault on ainst Tolliver as he helpedso hard not to say "I told you so" that he was practically bursting at the seaed not to say it

"Tolliver," I said, ere safely in the car and on our way back to the cabin

He stopped in ht after he hitat me, the boy said, ’I’m sorry Come find me later,’" I said

"I didn’t hear him say that"

"He said it real low, so you wouldn’t hear So his dad wouldn’t hear"

"He said you should come find him?"

"He said he was sorry Then he told me to co to persuade his dad that he is?"

"I think he’s trying to persuade his dad of so, I’m not sure what"

The rest of the drive back to the cabin, ere silent I don’t knoas in Tolliver’s head, butto understand what had just happened

When we parked at the top of the slope again, we noticed that the Hamiltons’ place was silent and still except for the s a nap That sounded like a good idea

"I’ like a seventy-year-old," I grumped as we made our way down the drive to the steps up to the door

"Oh, I bet we’ll think of so," Tolliver said, in such an inti to a critical point

"I don’t know; the Hamiltons are pretty hale and hearty for people in their seventies"

"I think we can give theht away, and with pauses to throw soed to ood effort I don’t kno the Hamiltons’ afternoon went, but ours went just fine And we did eventually get the nap

That night we made more hot chocolate and ate more peanut butter We also had some apples I like to think ould have talked to each other just as , butalone together in the near darkness, and every time we made love I felt surer of him, and our new relationship became more solid Neither of us would have taken the step off the edge of the cliff if we hadn’t been after ht stand

"That last waitress in Sarne," I said I gave him a narrow-eyed stare "That was the one I really ure out why"

"Well, two things I was hoping you’d come in on us, clobber the woman, and throw her out and tellthat, I was horny," Tolliver said "Plus, she offered Okay, that’s three things"

"I was tempted," I ad, What if I ask him not to, and he asks me why not? What can I say back to hiod, I can’t travel with you any," he said "You’d say that you couldn’t be with soo to bed with you all the time, you had to have a clear head to do your job, and you didn’t want to fog it up with dealing with lust After all, you picked fewer bed partners than o around sleeping hoever wants to sleep with o on"

"Not all women are like that," he said

"Yeah, well, lots of theainstas you’re disease free And I know you are" He got tested as regularly as he could, and he always used a condo a question "Yes," I said "We’re together"

"You’re not gonna go with anyone else"

"I’m not You?"

"I’m not You’re it"

"Okay Good"

And just like that, ere a couple

It seeet ready for bed and then climb into Tolliver’s

"We don’t always have to sleep in the sa to be narrow and even lumpier than this one But I want to sleep with you Really sleep"

I wanted to really sleep with hi his breathing beside me seemed to help me doze off faster than I normally did I hadn’t slept in the sa tiht since I’d shared a bed with uy, I often hadn’t

I did wake up a few tiht back to sleep On one of these ainst the floor by the bed I reached down and scooped it up

"Hello?" I said quietly, not wanting to wake Tolliver