Henry
I park on the street behind Grace’s car and check the neighbor’s décor. Normally it’d be funny to see that elf still face-planted in the yard, but I’m too nervous to enjoy it.
I have a little speech prepared. I started writing it in my mind earlier while the ER doc gently stitched my head closed, and I finished it just now on the ride over.
As I trot through the cold toward Grace’s house, her front door opens and my insides lurch. It’s just Miss Nadine, though, zipping her coat and slinging her purse over her shoulder.
“Mouse Man!” she calls.
“Hey, Nadine,” I say.
“Whoa. What happened to you? Get in a fight?”
The bandage above my right eyebrow is just a glorified Band-Aid, but it’s big enough to demand an explanation. “Nah,” I say. “Housework gone wrong.”
Nadine laughs, and I ask if Grace is home. “I texted her, but she didn’t get back to me.”
I tried to say all that casually, but it came out anything but, and now Nadine is looking at me with suspicion. “Mhm,” she says. “Just got home a bit ago.”
“Great. I just wanted to…run something by her.”
Nadine smiles and touches my hair, smoothing some bits at the top. “Wind’s got you looking wild.”
I tell her thanks, then she nods back at the front door.
“You go on in. Maybe be careful, though. Hasn’t been herself last couple days.”
“Thanks for the tip.”
“All right,” she says, “if I don’t see you, Mouse Man, Merry Christmas.”