“Oh,” Taylor said. She was looking at him a little desperately, her smile slipping. She wanted lightness, he realized. She wanted to be saved by a self-deprecating one-liner that might keep things moving. She’d told him nothing very serious about herself. If her life had held the slightest trace of sorrow or any disappointments deeper than her postponed ambition to travel the world, she’d kept it out of the narrative. He was acutely aware of the soft hum of central air conditioning, the far-off drone of a lawn mower. “But anyway,” he said, “do you still keep up with anyone from high school?”
...more
