She nodded slowly, ‘I wonder what it would be like if he died. I—don’t want to find out.’
‘He’ll be all right now,’ Hip said. He met her eyes. ‘He was ashamed.’
She huddled, cloaking herself, her thoughts. It was a waiting, but a different one from that he had known, for she was watching herself in her waiting, not him.
‘That’s all I can do. I’ll clear out.’ He breathed once, deeply. ‘Lots to do. Track down my pension cheques. Get a job.’
‘Hip—‘
Only in so small a room, in such quiet, could he have heard her. ‘Yes, Janie.’
‘Don’t go away.’
‘I can’t stay.’
‘Why?’
He took his time and thought it out, and then he said, ‘You’re a part of something. I wouldn’t want to be part of someone who was… part of something.’