Allie took a deep breath, but there wasn’t enough air in the woods. She could hear the river moving over rocks down the hill. She put her hand to her face and smelled fryolator grease. She heard one of the men laugh again, and she wanted to step out of the trees and throw Leo’s present right through the glass window. But the fireflies in her belly had moved into her arms and legs and face. She felt so suddenly weak, all her strength could be gone in minutes. But she would not cry; she’d cried enough. She dropped the wrapped package to the ground and walked back to the road. Her hair snagged once on a branch, and the hem of her UFO skirt caught at the backs of her legs.

It was early Saturday morning and Leo was walking down Paper Boulevard in his new suit. His striped tie felt tight at the throat, his dress shirt was a little baggy at the waist, and he could only hunch his shoulders for so long before his hands hung at their natural place a good inch out the sleeves of his navy blue jacket with the gold buttons. Earlier, after Jim drove off to work a weekend shift for Bill O’Donnell, Leo had shined his own black dress shoes. But they were a year too small and now they squeezed his feet like clamps.

There was a new James Bond movie playing at the Fremont. As Leo walked by the Hungry Pioneer Inn, a small boy and girl in the back seat of a passing car turned around and looked at him out their rear window. Both had blonde hair and they smiled, but didn’t wave. The sun shone through a thin veil of clouds and left the air hazy. He cut down the side road, passed the police station, and walked through the covered bridge. It was dark, and Leo heard the flap of wings above him. He watched a robin settle herself into a straw and mud nest perched in the center of a collar tie just beneath the ridge of the roof. He remembered kissing Allie here, and he knew he’d kiss her here again. Man, he’d kiss her all over town. Because what’s done is done, he thought. As soon as I balance the books with Chick and her mother, as soon as Allie sees that eighteen-year-old man in the suit taking care of things, taking care of her, then she’ll know she’s not alone and that doing it alone gave her no satisfaction at all.

The sun had cleared Spoon Hill, and as Leo walked the long steep drive, he couldn’t raise his head without being blinded, so he stared straight ahead at the gravel in front of him. His gray slacks were sticking to his thighs, and he could feel the cash wad straining against the inside of his front pocket. He was sweating beneath his new shirt but he wasn’t going to take off his jacket and spoil the look. When he reached the top of the hill, he adjusted his tie knot and stepped into the shade of the cabin.