The store was closed on Christmas Day each year if it fell on a business day. Evan told me he had plans to spend time with Chuck. I performed my usual ritual of watching It’s a Wonderful Life while eating the ginger cookies I’d baked and drinking milk. As I sat there, I remembered that, once upon a time, I’d shared this with Laramie, too. Interesting. It was one of the rare moments of communion we’d had, apart from joining of our bodies.
He’d stopped by the store a few more times before Christmas, but beyond a cursory greeting, Laramie had left me alone as he’d promised he would. As the week had drawn to a close, I’d only managed to sleep a total of eight hours, which meant that a crash was imminent.
I’d mentioned the argument at my condo to Evan. He still thought the guy was on the leve
