“Cords?” Wayne asked. What cords?

She ignored the question, muttering. “I swear, I am going to shoot you, you little maggot.”

He watched her go, smiled to himself, then turned and continued walking away.

“What’s this?” she said from behind him.

He kept walking.

“Wayne!” she shouted at him. “I’ll shoot you, right now. I swear I will. Tell me what you’ve done.”

He turned around. “It’s just a gift, Ranette.”

“A notebook?” she asked, flipping the pages.

He shoved his hands into his trouser pockets and shrugged. “Writin’ book,” he said. “You’re always writin’ stuff down, thinkin’ about things. Figured if there’s one thing you could always use more of, it’s a writin’ book. All those ideas you have must get pretty crowded up there. Makes sense you’d need places to store them.”

“Why’s it damp?”

“Sorry,” he said. “Forgot and stuck it in my pocket for a moment. But I got it right back out. I fought ten constables for that, I’ll have you know.”

She flipped through it, eyes narrowed in suspicion, until she reached the last page. “What’s this?” She held it up close and read the words he’d scrawled on the back page. “‘Thank you and goodbye’? What’s wrong with you?”

“Nothin’s wrong,” Wayne said. “I just figured it was time.”

“You’re leaving?”

“For a little, but that’s not what the words mean. I’m sure we’ll see each other again. Perhaps frequently and such. I’ll see you… but I won’t be seein’ you again. See?”

She looked at him for a long moment, then seemed to relax. “You mean it?”

“Yeah.”

“Finally.”

“Gotta grow up sometime, right? I’ve found that… well, a man wantin’ something don’t make it true, you know?”

Ranette smiled. Seemed an awful long time since he’d seen her do that. She walked to him, and he didn’t even flinch when she extended her hand. He was proud of that.

He took her hand, and she raised his, then kissed it on the back. “Thank you, Wayne.”

He smiled, let go, and turned to leave. One step into it, though, he hesitated, then shifted his weight to his other foot and leaned toward her again. “Marasi says you’re courtin’ another girl.”

“… I am.”

Wayne nodded. “Now, I don’t want to go wrong, seein’ as I’m being so gentlemanly and grown-up and the like. But you can’t blame a man for gettin’ ideas when hearing something such as that. So… I don’t suppose that there’s a chance for the three of us to—”

“Wayne.”

“I don’t mind none if she’s fat, Ranette. I likes a girl what has something to hold on to.”

“Wayne.”

He looked back at her, noting the storm in her expression. “Right,” he said. “Right. Okay. Yeah. I don’t suppose, when we’re lookin’ fondly on this conversationalizing and our memorable farewell, we could both just forget I said that last part?”

“I’ll do my best.”

He smiled, took off his hat, and gave her a deep bow he’d learned off a sixth-generation doorman greeter at Lady ZoBell’s ballroom in the Fourth Octant. Then he stood up straight, replaced his hat, and put his back toward her. He found himself whistling as he went on his way.