“I have one more date on this leg,” Todd said. “Cleveland, Ohio, then I’m coming home.”

“I can’t wait,” Sara said. “I hate to admit it but I miss you.”

An image of Leah came into Todd’s mind. She was naked and she had his cock in her hand. It was so sudden and startling that he forgot what he was doing for a moment.

“I said I miss you,” said Sara.

“No, I heard you,” Todd said, and the moment the words left his mouth he knew they were the wrong thing to say.

“Okay then,” said Sara tightly. “Well, let me know when you’re coming back and we’ll speak.”

Looks like everyone’s hanging up on me, thought Todd.

*  *  *

He got back in the Volvo and consulted his itinerary. The sheet was crumpled now, and torn, and his map was no longer the neatly folded rectangle that it had once been. The car, he noted, looked more like a garbage dump on wheels, being half-full of empty cartons, paper bags, and cups with straws in them.

Todd hit the road, and reached Cleveland in less than three hours.

He found the bookstore easily, and wondered if he was getting better at this. He had an hour or so before he had to check into whatever they had booked for him this time (hotel, motel, Holiday Inn as some novelty song on the radio had it) and he was just thinking about dumping all the junk from the car into a trashcan when he saw Nora.

“Hello!” she said breezily, Agnes Moorehead in a good mood.

“This is unexpected,” said Todd, which was an understatement. Nora in Cleveland, Ohio was like Jackie Onassis in Cleveland, Ohio.

“I know,” said Nora. “Let’s get a coffee.”

The coffee shop was dark and slightly pungent, and the staff seemed resigned to a fate beyond their comprehension. The coffee was good, though. Nora and Todd sat at the back, by a bathroom that enjoyed a constant stream of human traffic, most of whom seemed to have no interest in staying to buy coffee.

“Quite the hub,” said Nora, as another customer budged past them into the can.

“It’s great to see you,” said Todd. “Although I am a little surprised. Also,” he added, looking at his watch, “I’m on in ten minutes.”

“No you’re not,” Nora said.

“What?” said Todd.

“The event is off,” said Nora. “I had to cancel it. Not,” she said, sternly, “because of what happened in Charlene—and yes, of course I heard about it, the poor man was on the phone to the publisher immediately. And not because of Chicago, either.”

“I feel like I’m being tailed,” said Todd, sulkily.