Page 54 of Thick

“Is that all you do?” I asked.

He jumped to his feet, stretched his hands over his head, and popped his back. “What else am I going to do in here?”

I turned the lock on his door. “Write another bestseller?”

He gave an apologetic shrug. “Fingers cramp writing with a pencil.”

I pulled his cell door open. “How about writing it from home?”

“They dropped the charges?” His eyes widened. “Seriously.”

“They sure did.”

He glanced around the cell, and then realized he had nothing to take with him. He turned to face me and grinned. “I’m good to go?”

I stepped aside and waved toward the cell block. “As good as it gets.”

He brushed the wrinkles from his khakis and walked through the door. “How’s your schedule in the next few days?”

I pushed the cell door closed and locked it. “I don’t have a schedule.”

“What do you mean?”

I started walking toward Receiving and Discharge, and he followed, step for step, at my side. “I go home at 3:30, exercise, read, and wait for my neighbor to come over.”

He gave me a cross look. “He neighbor, or she neighbor?”

He seemed jealous. Not terribly so, but enough that his jaw tensed and his eyes thinned.

“He neighbor,” I said, somehow remaining straight-faced as I spoke.

“What’s his story?”

I strolled toward the door as if we were on a leisurely walk along the beach. “Oh, nothing much. He comes over with low calorie snacks.”

He paused and shot me a look. “Your neighbor brings you snacks?”

I nodded and kept walking. “Low calorie snacks.”

In a few steps, he caught up with me. “Low calorie snacks? And, that’s it?”

“Sometimes he stays and talks.”

“Then he leaves?”

“Eventually.”

“How long does he stay?”

We reached the door that led to R&D. I pushed the key into the switch, turned it, and waved my arm toward the open door.

He motioned toward the door. “Ladies first.”

“You walk in front of me,” I said. “It’s policy.”

“Oh.” He chuckled. “Right.”

He passed through the door and paused. I caught up to him, and we walked side by side to the discharge desk.