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A car squealed out of the parking lot, as Jason walked me back to the Jeep I only had a moment to see it, before it blasted out into the street, but I recognized the car Apparently Ronnie was driving theht wasn&039;t over Not h relationship proble my nose into someone else&039;s Of course, so, you can&039;t

"Can I grab a ride hoh his doctorate wasn&039;t in the biology of huy of bats His doctoral thesis had been on the adaption of the Little Brown Bat to human habitation Actually his ith bats, a different species, had put him in a cave with a wererat that attacked hiot to be furry once a month

"Sure," Jason and I said in unison

Louie smiled "I just need one ride, but thanks" His eyes, which were truly black, not just darkest brown like ry

"His place is on the way to the Circus," Jason said

I nodded "Okay" I looked at Louie and wanted to ask what the fight had been about, and didn&039;t want to ask what the fight had been about I settled for, "Are you okay?"

He shook his head "Ronnie will probably call you toht as well know, or ave a half-shrug "I don&039;t know Ronnie can be pretty stubborn"

Jason laughed "You calling someone else stubborn, that&039;s rich"

I frowned at him "You sure you don&039;t want to ride home with us, instead of Mr Comedy here?"

He shook his head "I&039;m on Jason&039;s way hoht was about Was I supposed to reo?

"Do you want sohed "Yes, if you don&039;t ht to Micah and Nathaniel, and I&039;ll be waiting by my car" He waved at me and walked away

For the second, no, the third ti out in the cool shadows of the trees getting a heart-to-heart talk with another man This one wasn&039;t even my boyfriend or occasional food

"What&039;s wrong, Louie?"

"I asked Ronnie to ht"

I&039;d been prepared for a lot of things, but that hadn&039;t even occurred to aped at hient, I said, "And why the fight, then?"

"She said, no" He didn&039;t look at ed into the pockets of his dress slacks, ruining the line of his jacket, but giving hi to do with his hands

"She said, no," I repeated it, as if I hadn&039;t heard it right

He glanced at me then "You sound surprised"

"Well, last I knew you guys were getting along really well" Actually, the last time Ronnie had confided in , because it had been mostly about sex We&039;d both overshared, which woood between her and Louie as it had been between ood Ronnie had had thisMicah meant I&039;d dumped Jean-Claude When she found out it didn&039;t mean that, she&039;d not taken it well She just couldn&039;t see the undead Picky, picky I could joke, but her last stand on Jean-Claude had been adah that we hadn&039;t talked much since

"It&039;s all wonderful, Anita That&039;s what is so" he see!"

"So, you guys are getting along great?" I ht so, ?" He paced two steps away fro It&039;s been the best two years ofup beside her I want to start every day like that Is that so wrong?"

"No, Louie, that&039;s not wrong"

"Then why did we just have the biggest fight we&039;ve ever had?" His dark face was deive it to him

"I&039;ll call Ronnie tomorrow, if she doesn&039;t call me first I&039;ll talk to her"

"She says she doesn&039;t want to marry anyone She says, if she married anyone, it would be me, but she doesn&039;t want to She doesn&039;t want to" The pain in his voice was so raw, it hurt to hear it

"I aht better of it, and said, "Maybe you could just live together?"

"I offered that I offered to just live together until she was ready for ain, as if he didn&039;t want me to see as in his eyes

"She said no to that, too?" I asked

"She doesn&039;t want to give up her independence Her independence is one of the things I love most about her"

"I know that," I said, and my voice was soft, because it was all I had to offer

He looked at me "You know that, then can you tell her?"

"I&039;ll do everything I can to reassure her that you&039;re not trying to clip her wings"

"Is that it? Is she just afraid I&039;ll take away her freedom?"

"I don&039;t know, Louie Truthfully, if you&039;d asked me beforehand, I&039;d have said, she&039;d say, yes"

"Really," he said, and he was studyingit as if the secrets to the universe were so out into the dark for his answers instead of in my face I wasn&039;t sure what the darkness had to offer him, but I knew I didn&039;t have any answers

"Yeah, Louie, really Last I knew she was the happiest I&039;ve ever seen her"

"So I wasn&039;t just foolingeyes

"No, Louie, you weren&039;t fooling yourself"

"Then why?" he asked "Why?"

I shrugged, and had to say so at me "I don&039;t know I&039;m sorry" It sounded so inadequate, sorry But it was all I had to offer tonight

He nodded, a little too rapidly, as he turned away, and stared out into the dark again I kneasn&039;t really seeing the yard that bordered the church I kneas just staring to be staring, and not to have to meet anyone&039;s eyes for a while, but it was sort of unnerving Unnerving to think that whatever he was feeling was so strong that he had to hide his eyes, so I wouldn&039;t see It reminded me of the way Dolph had turned away at thethe sa--pain

He turned away froain They were raw, and I had to fight to not turn away myself My rule was always if someone could feel the emotion, the least I could do was not turn away

"It looks like your sweetheart is colanced back to find Micah walking slowly toward us Normally, he wouldn&039;t have interrupted, but ere on a deadline tonight Time and the ardeur wait for norude, that we had to go, but I wasn&039;t sure Louie knew about the ardeur, and I hated to explain it to people who didn&039;t know It always sounded so odd

"How long have you and Micah been living together?" he asked

"About four ing out much since he ht about it, then said, "I guess not She didn&039;t like that I&039; Jean-Claude"

Louie watched Micah walking toward us His face looked thoughtful "Maybe that wasn&039;t it"

"What do yousomeone live with you Maybe that&039;s what she couldn&039;t handle"

"She said it was s," he said, voice softer, less angry,out of water, and ive me a smile It left his eyes sad, but it was a start "Maybe she just couldn&039;t stand to see you co yourself to soed, because I didn&039;t think that was it, but I couldn&039;t blaave o holitter of tears before he turned away and looked out into the dark again

I didn&039;t knohat to do Was I supposed to hug hiirlfriend, I probably would have But it wasn&039;t, he wasn&039;t, and I didn&039;t need any , and patted him aardly on the back Whether I would have worked up to a full-blown hug, I don&039;t know, because Micah was beside us

"Sorry to interrupt, but it&039;s been nearly an hour since we hit the parking lot" It was his subtle way of reot from the time I squashed the ardeur down to the time it resurfaced

I took the hint With Micah beside me, I felt more secure If the ardeur had risen, he&039;d have been there to see that nothing disastrous happened I slid ainst his shoulder "Come on, Louie, we&039;ll walk you to Jason&039;s car"

He nodded, as if he didn&039;t trust his voice, and was careful not to look at either of us as alked hi lot Micah pretended that nothing rong I pretended that there were no tears to see I keptbeside his car

Jason opened the passenger side door for Louie, givinglook over Louie&039;s shoulder

I started to shake ed ht it took , but he didn&039;t He just held on, and I wrapped my arms around his back, held him, because I couldn&039;t not hold hi to have to think of so while he held , but the fierceness in his arave Micah an odd s in with you?"

"I moved in with her," he said, voice very quiet, very even, a careful voice, reserved for frightened children, and overly eh aimed at me "And she asked me"

"Lucky," Louie said, and that one word sounded like itbut, lucky

"I know," Micah said, and he put an arm around my shoulders and moved me just a little back froh the open car door

Louie nodded again, too rapidly, and too many times "Lucky" He slid into the car, and Jason shut the door behind him

Jason leaned into me "What just happened?"

It wasn&039;tJason to drive Louie ho him "It&039;s his secret to tell, not mine I&039;ht"

Louie knocked on theThe sound , or had better nerves than we did Jason h so the door could open "Don&039;t bother to whisper this close to the car I can hear you"

"I&039;m sorry," I said

"Don&039;t be, it&039;s not like he didn&039;t see the fight Tell hiain He leaned his head back against the seat, and an to escape him

We all looked away, as if it were somehow shameful to watch I think we&039;d have been less embarrassed if he&039;d been undressed "What is up?" Jason said

"He proposed to Ronnie, and she said no"

Jason&039;sme"

I shook my head "Wish I was"

"But they are like one of the happiest couples I know"

I shrugged "I don&039;t explain the news, I just report it"

"Shit," Jason said He glanced back at his car, and at Louie "I&039;ll get hiave rin "Well, can&039;t send him home with you Wouldn&039;t that cos?"

"What?" I asked

Micah kissedwith Louie in the car Speaking of which"

"You guys go," Jason said, "we&039;ll be okay"

I kissed him on the cheek, quick and sisterly "You&039;re a braver hed "That&039;s not the original quote, is it?"

"Not exactly, but it&039;s still true"

He looked suddenly serious again Very unJasonlike "I don&039;t know if I&039;et hio," Micah said He started leadingback as Jason went around the car and got in Louie sat motionless, head back Fro