“I know,” I said.

“Then why haven’t you?”

I put the contract in the drawer under the phone books and pushed it until it stopped.

“I’m going to put the paper back in the drawer,” I said, and hung up.

At four I heard the living room door open, and Lucas’s voice, then Gemma’s, then Douglas laughing at something of his own.

I walked down the hall.

Lucas came out and pulled the door partway shut behind him.