Just as the rescue ship crashed and Ripley was apologizing to Newt, Taylor put our jeans in the dryer and started a new load in the washer. He returned to the couch, repeating Newt’s line with a perfect young girl’s British accent, “‘They mewstly come at night … mewstly.’”

I chuckled, but he ignored me, not saying another word until the end credits.

My eyes were heavy. I was feeling the effects of a long Saturday on my feet.

“You’re right,” he said, standing up. “It’s a classic.”

“It might take a while to get all those jeans dry,” I said.

Taylor opened the dryer door and checked. “Yep, still damp.” He turned the knob to reset the time, and then he stretched out on the sofa again, his eyes blinking twice before they closed.

“You can’t sleep here,” I said.

“Okay. But can I accidentally fall asleep here?”

“No.”

He shook his head, his eyes still closed. “I’m even doing your damn laundry. You could at least let me take a nap between loads.”

“I’m going to bed soon. You can’t be here while I’m sleeping.”

“Why not?”

“I’m still not convinced that you aren’t a serial killer.”

“You think I just wanted to wait to murder you until after we enjoyed a movie together? I hate to break it to you, Ivy League, but I don’t need to wait for you to fall asleep to overpower you. You might be scrappy, but I’ve got at least fifty pounds of muscle on you.”

“I’ll give you that. You still can’t stay here. Just because you don’t want to sexually assault me doesn’t mean you don’t want to rob me.”

He shot me a dubious look. “Sorry, but I don’t need your retro Zenith. I have a badass seventy-two-inch flat screen on my wall at home.”

“Where is home? In Estes Park?”

“Yep. I’ve thought about moving here a few times, but all my buddies and my brother are living either there or in Fort Collins. But it seems like the Alpine group always ends up here.”

“One of your brothers lives in Estes?”

“Yeah.” His voice strained as he stretched. “We’ve always been kind of inseparable. I have two brothers back in Illinois and one in San Diego.”

I paused. “Do you ever go home?”

“As much as I can. Between fire seasons.”

“So, after October?”

“Yeah. Thanksgiving, Christmas, birthdays. My baby brother got married this past spring, kind of on the fly. They’re planning a real ceremony on their anniversary, after the bachelor party and stuff. I’ll be going back for that for sure.”

“Why?”

“The second ceremony? I guess her best friend was kind of pissed that she wasn’t invited to the first one.”

“So … you went to the same college in the same town where you graduated high school?”