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She leaned into him and breathed into his ear. “That’s very
conscientious of you.”
“I try,” he whispered, before their lips met. When he pulled back,
he noticed half a dozen boaters watching them. He didn’t care.
“How long did it take you to rehearse that speech?”
“I didn’t. It just sort of… came to me.”
He could still feel the remnants of their kiss. “Have you had
breakfast yet?” he whispered.
“No.”
“Would you like to have cereal with me and the kids? Before we
head off to the carnival?”
“Cereal sounds delicious.”
34
North Carolina was ugly, a strip of road sandwiched between
monotonous strands of pine trees and rolling hills. Along the
highway, there were clusters of mobile homes and farmhouses
and rotting barns overgrown with weeds. He left one interstate
and got on another, turning toward Wilmington, and drank some
more out of sheer boredom.
As he passed through the unchanging landscape, he thought
about Erin. Thought about what he was going to do when he
found her. He hoped she would be at home when he arrived, but
even if she was at work, it would only be a matter of time before
she came home.
The interstate wove past uninteresting towns with forgettable
names. He was in Wilmington by ten. He drove through the city
and turned onto a small, rural highway. Heading south, with the