“Yeah, I just wanted to drop off the leash.” Gus was looking over North’s shoulder. “Hey, Shaw.”

Shaw wanted to crawl under the couch. Or melt. Melting would be preferable.

“You must have forgotten the leash when you were getting out of the car,” Gus said, still talking past North to Shaw. “I was going to bring it back tomorrow, but then I thought you might need it tonight.”

“Thanks, Gus. Thank you so much.”

“Cool.”

But Gus didn’t leave. He just stood there, looking from Shaw to North and back to Shaw.

“Very cool,” North said. “Why don’t you come in? Have a beer.”

“Nope.” Shaw launched himself off the sofa, rushing to the door and squeezing under North’s arm. “Thanks, Gus. So nice of you. Really appreciate it.”

Gus was frowning now. “Is this your boyfriend?”

“Oh,” North said. “So you at least bothered to tell him you had a boyfriend.”

“Yep,” Shaw said. “This is him. Gotta go, Gus. Not trying to be rude.” Shaw was putting his weight into the door. North was holding it open without even seeming to try. “Guess I’ll see you later.”

“Oh really?” North said.

Shaw reached up, prying at North’s fingers. “Night, Gus. Thanks again.”

Then, by some miracle, Shaw managed to get North’s hand loose, and the door slammed shut. Shaw put his back to it and, without breaking eye contact with North, reached over his shoulder to turn the deadbolt.

“He seemed nice,” North said in a deadly voice, holding the leash like a noose.

“Just hold on,” Shaw said. “I can explain everything.”

NORTH AND SHAW: OUT OF OFFICE

These vignettes take place after Declination.

1

SHAW SAT ON THE FLOOR of North’s living room, his back against the sofa, flipping channels between a QVC special on hoop earrings and a rerun of 90 Day Fiancé. North lay on the couch, a paperback of In Cold Blood folded along the spine so he could read with one hand. With his other hand, he ran his fingers over Shaw’s head, sending a pleasant rasping sensation through the buzzed hair and into Shaw’s scalp.

On the QVC special, the woman was trying on some really big hoops now. Showing them off for the camera. She had an interesting shape, a little bit like a pickaxe: a sticklike body, and then this uneven distribution of weight at the top. Those hoops looked big enough to set off a landslide.

“And they don’t go with her outfit,” Shaw announced.

“Hmm?” North asked, and a page rustled behind Shaw.

“Those earrings are really terrible. And she’s too basic to pull off something terrible.”

“Mmmhmm.” The light scratching of North’s fingers never changed.

Shaw flipped back to 90 Day Fiancé. He didn’t remember the characters’ names, but he kept getting dragged back into the episodes. They fought a lot. And they cried a lot. And they talked into the camera a lot, explaining how they loved this person they’d barely known for three months. That was the part Shaw liked best—well, that and the blow-up fights. He liked hearing all the ways people knew they loved this stranger from another country.