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They hung up and Julia stared at the sky and tried to find her courage Her worth

What an idiot I a to Jesse

She should have stayed, forced his for her Instead she’d run

Courage, she told herself and thought of his haunted face She sroan at the mere touch of her hand

I’ll just have to try again

JESSE POURED the other five beers down the drain He couldn’t look at thee offering him some drunken oblivion Some solace from his demons

He tossed the last bottle in the garbage and circled the kitchen again His knee felt okay, so he couldn’t pretend to need the painkillers It was just him and the demons, trapped in the cramped kitchen

He checked his watch

8:00 pm

It had only been hours since Julia had been here Hours that seemed like years

Suddenly the walls were too close The air too stale

“Wain!” he cried and heard the dog’s collar jangle as he stood up from his spot on the couch in the other roo in the doorway

“Watch the place,” Jesse ordered Wain barked once in response—the canine equivalent of a good loud “Sir, yes, sir!”

He picked up the keys from the kitchen table and headed out toward his Jeep and whatever salvation he could find in the night He wanted noise and people and there was plenty of that to be had at Billy’s

The place was coes of drunkenness and desperation People all concentrating so hard on their own proble in He eased onto a stool at the bar

“Well,” Billy said, approaching hiht to do it right”