Allison's eyes couldn't quite get a fix on me. They were wandering around the space where I was, not really seeing. She looked sloppy today, movingtime sloppy- her hair pinned up and her Tshirt streaked with old cobwebs and her legs below her cutoffs scraped and smudged with dirt. Her face was etched with tiny white wrinkles like cracked glass.
"You're just giving me twentyfive thousand dollars," she said, incredulous.
"Twentyfour thousand three hundred," I corrected.
"I know." She'd counted. The fact that I had too made her even more incredulous. "Is this because-"
I shook my head. "It's not because of anything. I know what Les' estate looks like. I know that his name isn't going to be worth as much as you hoped. The court is going to be paying off his debts first, and I doubt there's going to be much for you. You're broke."
That didn't seem to answer her question. She knew all that already. She kept staring at me, mad now.
"So give this to the judge, like you said," she said.
"I don't know the judge. I know you."
She finally lowered the backpack. She still looked angry. "Exactly."
A car went past. Behind me Gary Hales' watering hose sprayed across the cement and droplets thudded into the grass. He must've been busy watching us. His aim was off.
"Still going back to Falfurrias?" I asked.
"You sure you want to know?"
We locked eyes. I looked away first.
"Damn you." She was shaking her head again now, trying to stay angry but with a tiny smile starting to form.
"Pardon?"
"You've got to go and keep the damn door open, don't you? You've got to give me just enough to think that maybe all men aren't complete shits. Why the fuck did you do this?"
"Think about Les," I suggested. "There's still a strong case."
She sighed.
"You were right," I told her. "About him running off, about getting away free and leaving everybody else with the mess. You were right all along."
"Big comfort."
She turned and threw the backpack in the shotgun window.
"Besides," I said, "it was twentyfive thousand."
She frowned. "What?"
"The amount-I was going to give you twentyfive thousand dollars. I scammed seven hundred. You can blame me for that."
She stared at me.
I pointed my toe in the air. "Reimbursed myself for these here boots. Paid my rent.
They cost about the same amount."
Allison cracked a smile. "I've seen your apartment. The boots were a better deal."
Then she came up and put her arms around me. Her fingers traced my skin, remembering exactly where the sword tip scar was, circling around it. She kissed me long enough for Gary Hales to water the tree, the street, the front bumper on my VW.
Long enough for me to forget how to breathe.
Then she pushed lightly away, bumped my forehead with hers.
"Come down to Falfurrias sometime," she said.
"And you'll introduce me to your four brothers?" I managed to say.
She grinned. She tweaked my ear with her fingers and it stung.
"Them you could handle, sweetie."
After the red Miata drove away I stood in the middle of Queen Anne Street until a family Land Rover drove up and tapped its horn. Excuse us.
I moved to the front yard, looked at Gary Hales.
"That one's gone," I told him.
"Yeuh," Gary agreed. Disappointed.
Fortunately I'd paid my rent. That gave me thirty days to find either more money or more blondes. I figured the odds were about even.
I went inside to see about some cake.