He caught everything.

We were at the diner, at Marge’s, where we’d taken to having pie on the mornings we weren’t working on the truck, and my phone rang and it was Lorene and I did the thing I did, the ten bright minutes, the everything’s fine here, honey, and got off quick.

Del watched me put the phone down and said, around a bite of pie, “You don’t tell her anything.” It wasn’t a question.

I started to bristle and then didn’t, because there’s no point bristling at a man who’s already seen through you.

“We’re not close,” I admitted.

“We haven’t been since Carol.