Page 120 of The Show

I took them from her, focusing on exactly where she was directing me next to the yellow crescent. The dot was bright, almost blueish, with a halo spreading out further than any of the other stars. It was brilliant, and stunning.

“Yes, I see it.”

When she didn’t say anything, I peered back down at her and placed the binoculars in her open palm. Her fingers curled round it, before she looked through them herself.

“It’s Jupiter, the King of the Planets. Fastest spinning planet in the solar system. Did you know Jupiter’s gravitational field is so strong that it protects the Earth, and without him the Earth might not exist? Once you’re in Jupiter’s pull, Mr. Shepherd, it’s nearly impossible to get out.” She put down her binoculars and glanced up at me. “Anyway, have a good evening. I’ll look forward to hearing from you.”

And there she left me, staring after her as she walked across the parking lot and got into her car. Foreboding crept over me, like a rolling mist, and I suddenly had no idea what I’d gotten myself into.

I opened the back door of my car and slid in.

“Back to the airport, sir?”

I nodded mindlessly to the driver. “Yes, please.”

My phone screen lit up. I had half a dozen messages from Lowe, all iterations of the same thing; that she’d searched for me and she wanted to talk. That she was sorry about her mom. That she didn’t want or need a month. But for some reason, none of them made me feel better and I didn’t know what to reply. I also wasn’t ready to go back to the city to face her, face the inevitable. Because none of the messages said she’d told her family about us, and until she did, there wasn’t anything to discuss. Month or not.

But after seeing Marnie, I had a new destination in mind.

* * *

I knew the drill by now. I even saluted the guard, and I managed to get to Jupiter’s house through the maze of winding roads a whole minute quicker than I had last time.

Once again, he was waiting at his door like a stone warrior. I’d been worried he’d be having an early night, seeing as he had a game tomorrow. But when I called, he’d given me a ten p.m. curfew before he turned into a pumpkin. I’d had Decker leave my sister’s car at the airport for me, and the second the plane doors opened, I’d rushed down the stairs and stepped on the gas.

It was now nine forty-five; I’d made it with fifteen minutes to spare.

I stifled a yawn before I got out. I’d woken up Lowe so early this morning that with the time difference, I’d been awake nearly twenty hours.

“Hey, man.” He rocked back on his heels. “I take it that as you’re here, it’s either really good news, or really bad.”

I held back a smile. “Let’s go with the former.”

He lifted one thick eyebrow. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“Then come the fuck in, my friend.” He put his arm round my shoulders and we walked through his house, and out to the deck where his telescope was.

Once again there were drinks and snacks left out on the table for us, and I was suddenly fucking famished. I hadn’t eaten since breakfast, and even then it was a blueberry muffin grabbed on the go.

“You want something more to eat?”

I sat down in the same chair as before and picked up the beer in front of me. “Yeah, what you got?”

“Anything.”

“Then I’ll take a burger, please,” I grinned.

He shot off text to his chef, then sat down opposite me. I glanced up to the inky sky dotted with stars; far more than I’d seen in Houston. I found the bright one which Marnie had pointed out to me, and nodded to it.

“That bright star there, did you know that’s Jupiter?”

He took a long draw on his beer, then let out a low chuckle. “I did, actually. Yes. You been reading astronomy books?”

I snatched up a handful of cashews. “Not exactly. Your girlfriend told me.”

He coughed hard, then harder as he tried to clear the air and beer which had lodged in his throat. “Wait, you saw her?”

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