The Goodbye Girl by Angela Verdenius Page B

towards him, hands in his pockets.  “Early bird and all that shit.”
    “Harly has an early shift at the café.”   Alex stopped next to the ladder, reaching out to steady it as Nick climbed to the next broken branch.  “So, Bree.”
    Straight to the point.  “Ye ah?”  Lining the handsaw above the break in the branch, Nick started sawing.
    “She’s The Goodbye Girl, isn’t she?”
    “I don’t think there’s any doubt about that.”
    There was silence for a few seconds, then, “You didn’t tell her.”
    “Yeah, I did.  I told her my name.”
    “But you didn’t tell her who you were.”
    “Oh, she knows, don’t doubt that.”
    “But she didn’t say anything.”
    “Nope.”
    “And you didn’t say anything.”
    “I did.  I told her-”
    “You didn’t tell her you knew who she was.”
    Nick glanced down at Alex to find his friend leaning against the ladder, one hand hooked around a step as he looked up at him.  “I was waiting for her to offer that information.”
    “So why didn’t she?”
    “Now isn’t that the million dollar question?”  Nick looked back at the branch as he sawed.
    “And the two million dollar question is why didn’t you offer the information?”
    “I’m waiting for her.”
    “You could be waiting a long time.”
    “I’ve got seven weeks.”
    “Seriously?  You’d wait seven weeks?”
    “Maybe not seven.”  Nick was halfway through the branch.   “Six and a half.”
    Alex shifted, the movement causing the ladder to jiggle a little. 
    Nick looked down at him.  “I’ve made it through Afghanistan and Iraq so far, I’d like to think I can be on your property for a couple of days without biting the dust.”
    “You’d actually be biting the mud, but why quibble?”
    Grinning faintly, Nick recommenced sawing the last half of the branch.  “You know,” he said conversationally, “I didn’t know she was living here until a few weeks ago.”
    “Really?”
    “Yeah.  I’d just gotten my ‘goodbye’ letter and was sitting on my bunk thinking about things, and I suddenly noticed the postmark.  It was here.”
    “And you thought she’d still be here?  Kind of a long shot, don’t you think?”
    “I had a feeling she’d still be here.”
    “Why?  Everyone knows she moves around a lot. ”
    “Yeah , most of her letters are never from one town more than two or three times, but this time there were quite a few letters with Whicha on them.”  Nick shifted his hand.  “Branch coming down, Alex.  Watch it.”
    “Mate, I’m right behind you at the ladder.  Unless you plan to throw it at me, I’m safe.”
    “You’d think so, but who knows?” Nick watched the branch hit the mud before he climbed down.  Resting the saw on the rungs of the ladder, he scratched his jaw. “A lot of strange things are happening in Whicha.  Why not Bree?”
    The corners of Alex’s eyes crinkled in amusement.  “She is some crazy sheila.”
    “Entertaining,” Nick corrected.  “Different.”
    “Different is right.   UFOs, of all things.”
    “In all the letters and emails we shared, mate, not once did she ever mention UFOs and little grey men.  Not once.”
    “Not everyone says everything in their letters .  Some things we keep back.”
    Nick slanted a look at him.  “Do you keep anything back from Harly?”
    “No.”
    “Sure about that?”
    “Absolutely.”
    “ You mean not once in your whole marriage have you ever kept anything back from her?”
    Alex looked at him steadily.  “ I trust her.  She trusts me.”
    “Huh.  Does she know you have shares in her name?  A lot of shares?”
    “That’s insurance in case I die.”
    “But does she know about it?”
    A muscle tightened in Alex’s jaw.  “My job is dangerous, we both know that.  Harly knows that.  I need to make sure that she’s taken care of financially if anything happens to me.”
    Nick laid a hand on his shoulder.  “If anything happens to you, Alex, Harly will have