“Frank would have charged me for saying it.”

Marcus smiled, but he did not laugh until I did.

That was how we left the kitchen, with the old paper in the drawer and two new responsibilities in plain sight.

At nine thirty the next night the grocery store stockroom smelled of cardboard and floor cleaner.

I had finished my shift, but Marcus was waiting beside the employee lockers with his coat over one arm.

I handed him a folded sheet of paper.