Page 33 of The New Place

“Oh.” The light turns and immediately the car behind him starts honking. “His friend Steve, you mean?”

“I am his friend.” Pat taps his chest. “You can go, you know.”

“I can’t move. There’s a car ahead of me.”

“It’ll move. Yeah, Steve. But I’d say he’s more of an acquaintance to Ned. At most. Do you think they hang out a lot? Be honest.”

“I have no idea. I’m up in Portland with you.”

“But does Ned talk about him?”

“Occasionally.”

“What does that mean?”

“Sometimes?”

“Oh, you’re no help.” Pat slouches in his seat. “And spousal hires sound weird as hell, if you’re asking.”

“I wasn’t,” Abbot says. “But with Steve leaving Adams—well. I wondered if Ned said anything about how I’ve been thinking of moving down there.” And if Ned had been as blindly enthusiastic about it as Abbot? Amazing, Ned had said, but he’d been distracted and Abbot so wants him to join in this desperate dash his thoughts have become, planning the timing of a move, what classes Abbot might teach, what the shape of their days and weeks could look like.

And—and where he might live. Where they might live, even, and his hands curl around the wheel as the light turns, eager to press the car forward.

“No, you can’t leave me too.”

“It’s just an idea,” he says as if he feels at all that casual about the thought. Excitement thrums in him now, imagining his car packed and a last, final drive south.

“Just an idea? How bad did Ned panic?”

“Panic over what?”

“It’s Ned,” Pat says. “He didn’t say anything to me about it. Ergo, he’s panicking.”

“He isn’t. We talked about it the other day and he was fine.”

“Of course he’s panicking. He was complaining about how this woman in biochem just shows up to Callahan and is like hey, thanks for the job offer, now hire my husband too, please? And he doesn’t mention you moving or changing jobs too? That’s classic Ned panic right there. If he’s not freaking out yet, he will soon.”

“He won’t,” Abbot says. “But what you’re telling me is that you did talk to him. Ned implied that you have steadfastly refused to communicate.”

“No, he talked, and I was very polite and demure. He’s mad this Steve is leaving him, and clearly forgetting I’m his real friend.”

The car beside them lays on their horn in a long, unending blare. Abbot glances around, but the noise is clearly intended for him, and he can’t pretend it’s directed at anyone else.

“Must be turning right,” Pat says. “Shut up, asshole!”

“He’s not really going to⁠—”

“Oh yeah he is,” Pat says and they watch as the driver swerves around them to the left, cuts in front, and makes a right turn. “Watch out; the guy behind him is totally going to do the same thing.”

“Now I can’t even go,” Abbot says when the second car threads in front of him and then gets stuck in the traffic crossing the intersection so neither of them can move.

That car at least gets honked at by a bus lumbering past, but now the car and the bus form a gridlock, blocking the intersection entirely, so they’ll have to remain here through another light cycle. Abbot sighs, sits back in his seat, and glances at the clock. He won’t be late to Ned’s by the time he’s dropped Pat off, but he won’t be early, either.

At least they had the other night together. He tries to console himself with this as each minute ticks into the countdown before Abbot has to leave on Sunday.

Though it does give him more time to pry into Pat’s life, like he promised Ned he would. “You’re changing the subject,” Abbot says. “I have been told to tell you that, and again I quote, ‘Pat’s being an obstinate asshole.’ I’ve also been told to threaten you with repeated wrong turns so you’re late to wherever you’re rushing to.”

“Ned is way too nosy.”