A Little Light Magic (20 page)

A baby changes everything.

“What’d you find out?” Nick asked Alex as he sank into a chair at Formica Bros. Italian bakery on Arctic Avenue, carrying a cup of coffee and a
sfogliatelle
as big as his hand.

Alex, having just refilled his own cup at the coffee bar, slid into the seat opposite. “You’ll never guess.”

“Try me.”

“Ma’s not having an affair.”

Relief washed through Nick. “Thank God. What’s she doing, then?”

Alex took a gulp of coffee. “I trailed her to a music studio in Northfield. She’s taking voice lessons. Jazz and blues, to be specific.”

“Voice lessons?” Nick frowned into his own coffee. “So why is that such a deep, dark secret?”

Alex shrugged. “Don’t know.”

“Maybe she’s having an affair with the instructor.”

“The instructor’s a woman.”

“Oh.” Then, “I don’t get it.”

“What’s to get? You know Ma’s got a great voice. She’s sung in the church choir forever. Maybe she wants to expand her repertoire.”

“Maybe,” Nick said, trying to puzzle it out. “But why wouldn’t she just say so?”

“Why don’t you just ask her?”

“I did,” said Nick. “All she said was not to worry.”

“There you go, then.” Alex slid a pen from his shirt pocket and started doodling on a napkin. “You know, I met Tori last night. She’s cute.”

Nick snorted.
Cute
wasn’t quite the word he associated with Tori, but then again, he’d seen sides of Tori that Alex never would. “That’s what Nonna said.”

Alex drew a few more lines on his napkin. “You two serious?”

“I barely know her.” Nick took a bite of his
sfogliatelle
.

“I’m only asking because Johnny was really into her last night. You might’ve thought he was onstage, he was trying so hard to impress her.” Alex looked up from his drawing long enough to send Nick a pointed look. “She seemed to like him, too.”

Nick set down his pastry, his appetite suddenly sucked into the empty hole at the bottom of his stomach. “Johnny flirts with women all the time. Doesn’t mean anything.”

Alex shoved his napkin across the table. He’d drawn a woman with curly hair leaning over a balcony railing. A man with two hoop earrings and an arm tattoo was climbing up an arbor to join her.

“That’s bullshit,” Nick said. “Bullshit.”

“Just as long as we’re all on the same page,” Alex said.

Nick called Tori that afternoon, and asked her out for dinner after he left the office. Her heart was tripping double-time as she agreed. Finally. A chance to clear the murky air hanging between them. They drove over to Ozzie’s, a fifties-style diner in Longport.

“Do you mind so much?” she asked him as they slid into a booth. “About Leigh working at my shop?”

He leaned back in his seat and expelled a long breath. “Leigh usually works in my office in the summer. But she’s bored with it, so I guess it won’t hurt her any to work for you instead.”

Tori let herself relax. “I’m glad. She’s been a big help already.” She smiled, fingering her napkin. “She’s so sweet and agreeable.”

Nick gave a snort of disbelief. “Leigh? Agreeable? Are we talking about the same girl?”

“She does everything I ask her to—and even thinks up extra jobs. And she’s always smiling.”

“She wants to get on your good side. Wait until she doesn’t like something you tell her to do. The sparks’ll fly then.”

Tori tore a long strip off the edge of her napkin. “I don’t think you’re being fair to her.”

“That’s because you don’t have kids. You have no idea. Leigh’s first word to me was ‘no.’ ”

“She was a handful, huh?”

“That and more. She was a tough baby, and even when she got older…” He shifted, letting his hand drop to the table. “It’s been one thing after another. This teenage crap is the worst. See these gray hairs?” He jabbed a finger toward his temple. “Premature. Don’t get me wrong: I love my daughter, but raising her has emptied me out. That’s why I’ll never do it again.”

Tori froze. “Never do what?”

He didn’t seem to notice that her breathing had gone shallow. He took a generous swig of his soda. “I’ll never have another kid. Stick a fork in me; I’m done.”

“But…” Tori’s napkin turned to shreds in her fingers. “You’re only thirty-five. Lots of men your age are just starting families.”

“Good luck to them,” Nick said. “Believe me, they’re gonna need it.”

“But…” Tori felt the world slipping away from underneath her, as if the tide had come in to wash away the ground she stood on. “Don’t you want a son? To carry on your name? I thought that was important to most men.”

“Not to this one. I’m not into that firstborn ego crap. I’ve got three brothers. Let one of them carry on the family name.”

Their dinner arrived just then.

But Tori’s appetite was gone.

She talked it over with Chelsea.

“Maybe he’ll change his mind,” Tori said, pacing a narrow strip of carpet in front of Chelsea’s sales counter. Her stomach hurt something awful. “Maybe after we’ve been together a while, he’ll decide another baby wouldn’t be such a bad thing.”

“Are you listening to yourself?” Chelsea demanded. “You’re out of your mind. The man told you flat out he doesn’t want any more kids. You have to respect that. It’s not fair to him if you don’t.”

Tori didn’t have any answer.

Chelsea came around the counter and hugged her. The sisterly gesture made Tori’s throat ache.

“Aw, honey. I know it sucks. But you can’t ignore the facts. You spent the last five years being what Colin wanted. Don’t spend the next five being what Nick wants.” She held Tori’s gaze steadily. “You have to do what’s best for you.”

Tori took a deep breath. Her friend was right.

But it hurt like hell to admit it.

Nick came over that night in a good mood, bent on sweet-talking Tori right into bed.

And despite the warning bells ringing in her head, Tori let him.

The afterglow faded more quickly than it should have. Tori lay beside Nick, staring up at the ceiling. He drew lazy circles on her arm. She turned her head and looked at him.

Her expression must have given her away, because he said, “What’s up?”

Tori exhaled. “There’s something I need to tell you.”

He pushed himself up on his elbow, his brow furrowing. “That sounds serious. What is it?”

“I’m going to have a baby.”

He jerked upright. “You’re pregnant?”

The anger in his dark eyes scared her. “No!” Tori sat up, pulling the sheet over her naked body. “No! I’m not.”

Relief wiped his expression clear. “Then what—”

“I said I’m going to have a baby.” She stared at the tent her knees made of the bedsheet. “And I am. I’m just not pregnant yet.”

She could feel his gaze boring into her. “You’re not making any sense.”

“I’m making perfect sense.” She still didn’t look up. “I’m thirty. I want to be a mother, so I’m going to get pregnant. Soon.”

He shifted on the mattress, and the heat of his body receded. His voice, when he spoke, was tight.

“And who, pray tell, is the father of this child going to be?”

“Don’t worry,” Tori said, fighting tears. “It won’t be you.”

He was still for a long moment.

“Then who?” he said at last. His voice was taut and scratchy.

She drew a breath. “I…I’ve decided to use a donor. A sperm donor.”

His jaw dropped. “You’re shitting me.”

“No,” she said, straightening her spine. She finally found the guts to look at him. “I’m not kidding. Lots of women do it! Chelsea—”

“Chelsea’s a freaking lesbian! It’s not like she had a choice.”

“Straight women use donors, too! If the husband is sterile, or if there’s no guy around…”

He just looked at her.

“I want a baby,” she said limply. She could feel the tears gathering, and her eyelids worked furiously, trying to hold them back. “I want a family.”

His expression softened then. He scooted closer and brushed a curl out of her eyes. “You don’t need to have some stranger’s child. You could adopt a baby.”

Her hand, completely on its own, went to her stomach. She was all too aware that he’d left himself out of that picture.

“I want my own baby,” she whispered. “And I almost had her. Last year. I lost her.”

“You lost a baby?”

“Yes.” And suddenly she was angry, so angry she had trouble catching her breath. “I got pregnant. My boyfriend wanted me to get an abortion.”

“Did you?”

A single tear escaped. “No! How could you think I would do that? I wanted her so badly.”

He dragged a hand over his head. “Tori—”

“I miscarried. Right after Colin and I fought. He didn’t want his own child! I told him I was having the baby and there was nothing he could do about it. I was so upset.” She sniffed. “Turned out he didn’t have to do anything about it. The next morning the contractions started. Ironic, huh?”

“Ah, honey.” Nick’s arm went around her, pulling her close. She let his heat seep into her. He was so solid and strong. He tipped up her chin, forcing her to look at him.

“That must’ve been hell.”

“I didn’t get pregnant on purpose.” It was suddenly very important that Nick was clear on that point. “I knew Colin wasn’t into kids. And I was okay with that, until I found out there was a baby growing inside me….” She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. “I thought Colin would be glad, too, once he got used to the idea.”

“The guy was an asshole.”

“I was with him for five years, Nick. I thought I knew him….”

His arm tightened around her. Her voice trailed off, and they were both silent for a moment. When Nick finally spoke, his tone was distant.

“Thirty’s not old. You’ve got plenty of time to have a baby.”

“But I don’t, not really.” She told him what Dr. Janssen had said about her endometriosis, how it would lead to scarring and infertility. And how pregnancy could reverse the condition.

Nick’s disbelief was clear. “There’s got to be some other option.”

“Surgery. Or massive amounts of hormones. I can’t do either.”

“Why not?”

“I was on the pill for a while. Colin wanted me to take it. But the hormones messed me up and I had to stop. The pills the gynecologist wants me to take are just souped-up versions of the ones I couldn’t handle.”

“Then have the surgery.”

“No.” She pulled the blankets more tightly around her. “I hate hospitals. My mother was in and out of them all the time when I was young. She died in one. I can’t even walk into a hospital without feeling like I’m going to faint. When I had the miscarriage and had to go to the emergency room…” She shuddered.

“But if you need surgery—”

“I don’t. I just need to get pregnant. Soon. The longer I wait, the worse my chances will be.” She met his gaze. “This means everything to me, Nick. I’m going to do it. Don’t try to talk me out of it.”

He swore softly. “Tori. A baby’s a big commitment, and an even bigger time sucker. You just started a business. How the hell do you think you’re going to run your shop and take care of an infant, too, with no family to help out?”

No family. She fought back tears. “I’ll manage.”

“It’s a bad idea.”

She broke his touch on her arm. “I didn’t ask your opinion.”

He regarded her in silence for a moment, then swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood. He rummaged around on the floor, looking for his clothes.

“You might not want to hear it,” he said, “but I’ll give you my opinion anyway. A baby is not a one-person job. It’s exhausting enough for two parents. What if the kid has colic? What about when he gets sick? Are you going to work all day and stay up all night, too?”

“I’ll worry about that if it happens.” She watched him pull on his pants. She wanted to get to her clothes, too. But she didn’t want to come out from under the blanket.

He finished dressing. “The kid will get sick, Tori. All babies do.”

She sighed. “I think you should go.”

He didn’t move. He just stood there, looking at her for the longest time, as if she were someone he’d never seen before.

“Won’t it bother you,” he said slowly, “to give birth to a stranger’s child?”

“No,” she said, after the slightest hesitation. “It won’t. In fact, I have a donor all picked out.”

His eyes widened. “You’re really serious about this? I mean, you’ve been making arrangements and you haven’t even told me?”

“I’m telling you now. I went to the same clinic Chelsea used. They gave me pages of information about the donors. I almost feel like I know the one I picked out.” And then, because Nick was looking at her as if she were the biggest freak show on the planet, she added, “He’s nothing like you.”

He crossed his arms over his chest. “Oh. Really?”

“He’s a marathon runner. He has black hair and green eyes, like me, so the baby’ll look like me. He’s a journalist, he likes old black-and-white movies, and he votes Democrat.”

Nick’s jaw worked. “Sounds like a real stand-up guy.”

“And,” she said, “he’s gay.”

Nick stared. “You’re planning,” he said slowly, “to have a gay man’s child?”

She crossed her arms, mirroring his pose. “Unless you’re volunteering to be his replacement.”

Oh, God.
As soon as she’d said it, she wished she hadn’t.

Nick’s expression went from disbelieving, to shocked, to truly and royally pissed. All in the span of a heartbeat.

“Don’t.” His voice was harsher than Tori had ever heard it. “Don’t even think of putting that on me.”

“It was just a joke,” she said lamely. “I didn’t mean it.”

She didn’t know if he even heard her. He stared at her another few seconds, then shook his head and ran his hand down his face.

“We’ve known each other less than a month, Tori. There is no way I’d let myself be cornered into fathering the child of a woman I barely know.”

His words hurt. Badly. “I don’t want to corner you. Forget it. Forget I said anything.”

He found his shirt and pulled it on. “I’m damn well going to try.”

He gave her a long, steady look before he walked out the door.

Sometimes, you don’t even realize how much you want something until your brother has it first.

“There you go,” Jason said to Tori early the next morning. “I set you up with an Internet account, e-mail, and everything. Leigh can show you how to use the inventory software.”

She gave her new computer a dubious look. It wasn’t that she didn’t like computers; it was just she’d never had the money to buy one. Colin had taken care of all the e-mail and other stuff while they’d worked for Weird Zone, so Tori had never bothered to learn more than the absolute basics. She could surf the Internet and use e-mail and a word processing program, but as soon as one of those nasty error windows popped up, she was lost. Just the thought of accounting and inventory software made her palms sweat.

Her anxiety must have been obvious, because Leigh laughed. “Don’t worry, Jason and I will help out if you have a problem. You can’t expect to run a business without a computer.”

“I suppose not.”

Jason sent her his all-American grin. Tori liked Leigh’s boyfriend. The minute Leigh had asked him, he’d built Tori a dirt-cheap computer, and had come over to set it up.

“I’d like to stay and help out some more,” he said now, “but I’m due on the beach in fifteen minutes.” He gave Leigh a quick kiss and was gone.

He was a sweet boy, easygoing and personable, and he was so obviously in love with Leigh. Leigh had told Tori about Nick’s irrational dislike of Jason, and how she’d been banned from dating him after their car accident the night of Leigh’s emergency midnight call to her father. Privately, Tori thought Nick was coming down on the kids too hard. They were really a perfect couple.

Unlike Tori and Nick. After that scene last night, she didn’t expect him to call today, or maybe even ever again. She tried to ignore the ache in her chest where her heart should have been.

“I like Jason,” she told Leigh.

“I’m glad,” she said, but her smile was a thin line.

“What’s wrong?”

Leigh avoided Tori’s gaze. “What makes you think there’s something’s wrong?”

“Wild guess,” Tori said dryly. “Is there?”

She hesitated a second, then nodded. “Yeah, there is.”

“Want to tell me about it?”

Leigh half turned toward a collection of magnetic affirmations displayed on a metal tower. She lined up
I release my past
,
Power is in the present moment
, and
My perfect future awaits me
, then frowned at the arrangement and scattered it.

“I love Jason,” she said finally.

“Is that a problem? From what I can tell, he feels the same about you.”

“Yeah, he’s told me that.” A pause. “He…he wants to make love.”

No surprise there. Tori had seen the hot looks Jason sent Leigh’s way. “How do you feel about that?”

Leigh slid Tori a quick glance. “You’re sleeping with my dad, aren’t you?”

Tori nearly choked. “You don’t really expect me to answer that, do you?”

“I guess not,” Leigh said, sighing. “What I really want to know is, how do you know when it’s right? Sex, I mean.”

Could a woman ever know? “Well,” Tori said. “I, um—”

“Because I’ve never done it before, you know?” Leigh’s words tumbled out, as if they’d been waiting a long time to be released. “Even though my best friend, Stacey, has, with her boyfriend, and she says it’s no big deal. And Jason wants to do it so much—”

“What do you want?” Tori cut in.

Leigh shut her mouth and frowned, as if she hadn’t really considered that angle of the problem. “I want it, too, I guess.” She colored a little. “Especially when he kisses me. It’s just that…” She trailed off.

“Just what?”

“Just that it’s not Jason’s first time, you know? He’s always been popular. He could have any girl he wants.”

Tori tried to piece it all together. “So…you think if you don’t sleep with him, he’ll find someone else who will?”

“No,” Leigh said—a bit too quickly, Tori thought. “I don’t think that. I mean, if that were the case, he’d already be gone, right?”

When Tori didn’t immediately answer, she rushed on. “You know, I’m just about the only girl in the junior class who hasn’t done it.”

“I can’t believe that,” Tori said. “And anyway, even if it’s true, that’s hardly a reason to give away your virginity.”

“Maybe not. But I feel like some kind of freak. Like some fifties throwback.” Her color rose. “And you know what else is twisted? My dad doesn’t even see how straight arrow I am. He thinks I’m a slut.”

“Leigh, I really doubt your father—”

“Dad’s on my case about my clothes all the time. And don’t even get me started on the belly ring. You would’ve thought I’d walked naked onto the beach! He thinks Jason and I have already done it. Not that it’s any of his business.”

Tori was floundering at this point. Leigh’s breathing was short and gasping, as if she were about to cry. What was Tori supposed to say? What did Leigh need to hear from her?

“Can I ask you something?” Leigh said.

“Of course,” Tori replied cautiously.

“How old were you when you did it for the first time?”

Well.

That
was certainly a topic Tori didn’t care to discuss. But Leigh’s eyes were getting watery. She looked so forlorn, so troubled, so…motherless.

Tori found herself answering. “Sixteen,” she said slowly. “Younger than you are now. And I can tell you, Leigh, it was a big mistake.”

Leigh sniffed. “What happened?”

Now it was Tori’s turn to rearrange the affirmation magnets. “When my aunt got sick, I went to live with a foster family. I was thirteen. I knew they didn’t really want me—I learned pretty quickly they were after the state money that came with me. I stirred up so much trouble, they eventually decided I wasn’t worth it. I didn’t give the next family a chance to reject me—I was nasty to them from day one. So by the time I turned sixteen, I was already on my fourth foster family. I was the new kid in school again. I wanted so much to belong.”

She got a hollowed-out feeling, remembering. “I met this senior—a football player—at a party. He was very good-looking—all the girls liked him. He was funny, too. He stuck by me all night, made sure I always had a drink in my hand. The next thing I knew, we were in one of the upstairs bedrooms and I was giving him what he was begging for. I thought that if I did, it meant I was his girlfriend.”

“But you weren’t,” Leigh guessed.

“No. The next Monday, he hardly grunted in my direction. What was worse, he told all his friends what we’d done, and every time one of them saw me in the hall, he’d whistle and make a crude remark. I wanted to die.” She tried for a smile, and failed. “I made sure I had a new foster family and a new school before the next marking period.”

“Oh, Tori.” Leigh touched her arm. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked.”

“No, it’s all right. I wouldn’t have told you about it if I hadn’t wanted to. And I’m not saying Jason doesn’t love you or that you shouldn’t make love with him. That’s your own choice. I’m just telling you I wish I hadn’t thrown my virginity away so young. I used to dream how perfect the first time would be, with pink satin sheets and champagne. And poetry. I wanted my first lover to recite poetry in my honor.” Tori forced a laugh. “You know, I never did find one who did that, even later.”

Leigh didn’t answer. The corners of her mouth were turned down. Her brow was furrowed, her gaze turned inward.

Suddenly, it occurred to Tori there was something else Leigh might need guidance with. Something a girl definitely wouldn’t discuss with her father or grandmother.

“There’s one other thing I wish I’d had my first time,” Tori said.

Leigh looked up. “What’s that?”

“A condom. The football player didn’t use one. I lived in sheer terror until my period came. I hope, if you and Jason decide to make love, that you carry protection.”

“I don’t have any. But I’m sure Jason will think of it.”

“You shouldn’t count on it. What if things heat up and neither of you is prepared? Promise me you’ll pick up a box of condoms.”

Leigh grimaced. “No way. I’d die before I’d go through a checkout line with condoms.”

“In that case…wait here.” Tori left the store and went to find the box of condoms Nick had left in her bedroom.

She had a feeling she wouldn’t be needing them anytime soon.

She pressed three foil squares into Leigh’s palm.

“Take them,” she said. “A girl can’t be too prepared.”

For the rest of the day, Leigh kept a close eye on the condoms.

Tori saw her check them between ringing up sales. Leigh bagged a tie-dyed T-shirt, looked in her purse, sold a book about fairies, looked in her purse, wrapped up a figurine, looked in her purse….

Had Tori done the right thing, giving them to her?

She was about to say something when Leigh’s cell phone rang.

“Hello?” Her brow creased. “Nonna? Where are you?
How
much? You’re kidding me…. No, I won’t call him. Look, don’t do anything. Stay put. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

She cut the connection and closed her eyes. “Shit.”

“A problem with your great-grandmother?”

Leigh opened her eyes and looked at Tori. “Yeah. Could I borrow some cash from the register? Just for today?”

“Of course,” Tori said, “but what’s wrong?”

“Nonna’s about to get arrested.”

“You’re kidding.”

“I wish I were. You know how she took that chakra bracelet the other day?”

“Yes, but—”

“Well, it’s this thing she does. It’s like she can’t help it. A compulsion or sickness or something. Usually she just steals from this old guy that’s known the family forever, and my dad stops in at his store once a month and pays him off. But yesterday she ‘picked up’ your bracelet. And now she’s snatched a man’s dress shirt from a fancy boutique at the Trump Taj Mahal.”

“Oh, no! And she got caught?”

“Yeah. To make matters worse, from what she just told me on the phone, it’s not the first time she stole something at that shop, either. She took a necktie last week, and the manager has her on video. If she doesn’t cough up cash for the tie in half an hour, he’s calling the cops.”

“You have to call your father.”

“No,” Leigh said. “No way. Nonna made me promise not to. He’s been on her case about this.”

“What about Rita? Or one of your uncles?”

“Nonna tried Johnny and Alex first, but neither of them is picking up. Mimi took Sophie to the mall—I doubt if she could make it over to Atlantic City in time. I’m the only one close enough, but I don’t have that kind of money in my purse.” She slapped the counter. “And I don’t have a car, either. Could I borrow yours? Along with the cash?”

“I’ll drive you,” Tori said immediately, reaching under the counter for her purse.

“But what about the shop?”

“I’ll put up the ‘Closed’ sign.” She hit the release on the cash drawer. “How much do we need?”

“Two hundred and twenty dollars.”

Tori’s jaw nearly hit the floor. “For one tie?”

Leigh shrugged. “It’s a designer store.”

Twenty minutes later, Tori left a perplexed valet parking attendant frowning at her beat-up Toyota while she and Leigh sprinted into the casino lobby.

“Second floor,” Leigh said, angling for the escalators.

They found Nonna reciting a recipe for ricotta cheesecake to a pencil-thin salesgirl while a paunchy store manager silently fumed. The man grunted as Tori counted out the bills for the necktie. She threw in an extra twenty, for good measure.

“Nonna, are you nuts?” Leigh raged as they left the boutique. “What ever possessed you to steal from a casino?”

“They got nice stuff there,” Nonna said.

“Well, don’t do it again. Please. Dad’ll have a stroke.” Leigh turned to Tori. “I’ll get him to write you a check for the money we borrowed.”

Tori thought of Johnny and his insistence that Nick would never send her a bill. And then she thought of Nick, and how angry he’d been when he’d left the day before. Their relationship was on shaky ground, and she didn’t like the money she owed him hanging over her head.

“Don’t bother,” she told Leigh. “I owe your dad a lot of money. You can tell him that was the first payment.”

“You’ll never guess what,” Johnny told Tori that evening.

Tori raised her brows. Nick’s brother had come knocking on her door about an hour after closing time. Now he was lounging against her sales counter, eating a candy bar.

“All right,” she said. “I’ll bite. What?”

“I got my mother a gig at the nightclub where I work.”

“Rita’s a comedienne?”

He chuckled. “God forbid. No, it’s a singing gig. Ma’s got a sweet voice, but all she ever sang were church hymns. I hooked her up with a voice instructor I know, and bang! She’s going pro.” He took a bite of chocolate. “She’s always wanted to, you know.”

“That’s wonderful! I’d love to hear her.”

He chuckled. “She’s kept it a secret from everyone. No one in the family knows but me. And now you.”

Tori refrained from pointing out that she wasn’t exactly part of the family.

“Ma’s debut’s next week,” Johnny said. “On the Fourth of July. Get Nick to take you.” He laughed. “That is, if my big brother can take the pole out of his ass. He was pretty pissed when Ma announced she was doing a show at my club.”

“Really?” Tori’s gaze drifted to the phone.

Johnny didn’t miss it. “Expecting Nick to call?”

Tori sighed and looked back at him. “If you must know, not really.”

“Trouble in paradise?”

A sudden sharpening of his tone made Tori look back at him. He was still lounging on the counter, but suddenly he didn’t seem so casual.

“We had a…difference of opinion,” she admitted.

“Let me guess,” he said. “Nick’s being a wet blanket about something.”

She rubbed her arms. “I wouldn’t exactly call it that. But he is taking a conservative view.”

Johnny saluted her with his candy bar. “That’s my big brother.” He bit off another hunk.

Tori frowned at him. “Is that your dinner?”

“Probably. Want some?”

“No.”

He finished off the bar and shot the wrapper, basketball-style, into the trash can. “So, if things are in the pits with you and Nick, what’re you doing tonight?”