Page 183 of The New Place

“I can try,” Abbot whispers. “I don’t know how successful I’ll be.”

“Let’s start with that and go from there.” Ned squeezes his hands. “We’ve got plenty of time to figure it out.”

Abbot tries for a small smile. “The rest of our lives, I suppose.”

Ned leans into him, everything that is warm and familiar and safe. “I can’t wait.”

EPILOGUE

ABBOT

Spring comes sooner to Boston than to Maine, so the drive south is a fast-forward to greener grass, leafed-out trees, and the thermostat ticking higher. Abbot drives against the traffic streaming out of the city, everyone leaving for the beautiful early May weekend ahead. He’s as eager as they are, his car pointed toward the skyscrapers and the narrow snarl of streets, weaving past cars as he turns right here, and left there.

He parks in the driveway and gets out, finding it’s too warm for his jacket. He takes it off and starts to leave it in the car, then thinks better of it. He can take it with him inside, and he does, up the steps to the porch, to the door he can unlock with his key.

“Hey, neighbor,” Claire calls before he can slip inside. She waves at him from a window, and points at the door to her entrance.

He meets her in her small, front entry where she greets him with a hug. Perfect, she’d said when she’d seen the apartment, adjusting her shirt once and then again over the barely noticeable bump of her stomach.

“Check it out.” Claire hands him a grainy black-and-white image of an ultrasound.

He studies it carefully, taking in the white shape she points to. “Did they say what you’re having?”

“A human baby.”

Abbot glances at the main house. You have to name it after me! he waits for Ned to call out, like he has every time the baby has been mentioned, but even with the windows open, Ned either can’t hear them or isn’t listening.

“So,” Claire says, drawing his attention back. “What’d you bring me today?”

“I believe some form of lentil concoction. It’s in the car still. Pat is very concerned about protein intake.”

Claire glances at her phone, then steps back into the narrow hallway that leads to her kitchen. “Would you mind bringing it in?”

“Of course.” Abbot quickly retrieves the small thermos Pat pressed on him before he left Portland.

“Looks good,” she says and points to where in her refrigerator he should set the container. “He’s getting better at this soup thing.”

“Just think, by the time you have this baby, you will have eaten every single soup known to humankind,” Abbot says, straightening. He’s careful of how he stands here, the angle of the stairs making the room quirky as Claire had said, and certainly better suited for someone of her height. The ceiling is higher where she is, in front of the window to the backyard.

“Just what I’ve always wanted.” Claire doesn’t start walking back towards the door, so he doesn’t move either, staying where he is, mindful of his head.

“If it looks good, you must be feeling better.”

“I’m okay. Up for some lentils, I think. Like, normal horrible morning sickness, instead of the type that was trying to end me.”

Still, she doesn’t move. He glances at the window, but can’t see past her. He likes Claire, of course he does, but this is finally his big moving day, leaving Portland for good, and he wants to go find Ned. “I’ll have to tell Pat your appetite is back so he can send more soup,” he offers.

“Please don’t,” she says and laughs. “So, you all moved out?”

“Yes, this should be the last trip.” His car is full of the miscellany that needed to be packed last minute, and the rest left for the movers.

“Gonna miss the old place?”

“I made some good memories there.” And some bad ones. More to be made in this house, which is what’s important. He’s been waiting so long for today to finally, officially move that he wants to hurry back down the hallway and revel in the moment with Ned.

Claire’s phone buzzes and she glances at it, then taps a quick response. “When you two go on your trip, anything specific to know about watching Baxter?”

“You’d really have to ask Ned,” Abbot says. They aren’t leaving for weeks, so are they discussing this now? Yes, apparently.