Free The Infinite Tides by Christian Kiefer

looking up at him from the concrete. Then he said, “To answer your question, my wife took it all when she moved out.”
    “Why aren’t you with her? Did you have an affair?”
    “An affair? Do you know what that means?”
    “It means when you go be in love with someone else and you want to marry someone else. It’s what my uncle did. I heard my mom talking about it.”
    He leaned against the doorframe, wondering if he should step outside but he had removed his shoes while he was painting and now stood in his socks between the interior of his empty house and the seemingly less empty exterior of the cul-de-sac. His thoughts wentagain to the neighbor across the street, the tan woman who had sent her daughter here. “What’s your name anyway?” he said.
    “Nicole,” she said.
    “I’m Captain Corcoran.”
    “Hi, Captain Coco-ran.”
    He smiled. “Maybe Captain Keith would be easier.”
    “Captain Keith,” she said. “Hi, Captain Keith.”
    “Hi,” he said.
    Across the street the garage door hummed open. He might have expected the neighbor’s red car to slide out onto the street but instead the neighbor herself appeared out of the shadows and stepped toward them. She was not dressed in her workout clothes this time but her T-shirt was tight across her chest, the neckline low enough that her tan breasts nearly spilled out of it.
    “Does that mean I can do my report on you?” Nicole said.
    He stared at Jennifer as she approached. It was not unlike watching some jungle cat. A panther. He glanced down at his shirt and pants, both of which appeared clean but for a few flecks of eggshell paint, and at his shoeless feet, gray socks on the threshold of the open door. Behind him lay the vacant entryway, tiles smeared with dust and dirt and littered with curls of masking tape. Beyond: the living room he had been in the process of painting. He glanced in that direction only briefly before stepping forward and closing the door behind him.
    “What?” he said.
    “I said,” she repeated, clearly impatient with his lack of attention, “can I do my report on you?”
    “OK,” he said, “but it might have been better if you had asked me that first.”
    “Why?”
    He paused. “I don’t know,” he said. Then: “That’s just usually how it’s done.”
    Jennifer had arrived by her daughter’s side, smiling widely. He hadinitially thought she might be slightly older than he was but now, with her standing before him, it was impossible to tell, her body uniformly smooth and tight and tan as if she was a being constructed entirely of suede.
    “Hey neighbor,” she said.
    “Hey,” he said.
    “Is she bothering you?”
    “No,” he said. “She asks a lot of questions.”
    “Jennifer,” she said, extending her hand and shaking his.
    “I remember,” he said. Then he added, “Keith.” Her hand felt smooth and warm.
    “I’m afraid I put her up to it,” Jennifer said. “She had this report to do and I just thought you’d be perfect. I mean you’re so close. Right across the street.”
    He nodded but did not answer. Smiled.
    “The other kids will all have their local mailman or something and Nicole will have our astronaut. That’s pretty special, don’t you think?”
    He smiled again, turning his eyes toward the sidewalk. “I guess so,” he said.
    “You’re a bit bashful about being famous.”
    “I’m not famous.”
    “It’s not a very big town.”
    “Seems pretty big to me.”
    “Well, you’re still new here,” she said. “Small town with big shopping.”
    “I guess so.”
    “It’s cute that you’re bashful.”
    He wondered if he was blushing, hoped in fact that he was not. He glanced down at Nicole, who looked up at him expectantly.
    “We’re just headed out so I won’t keep you,” Jennifer said.
    “OK,” he said. Then he paused and stammered, “I mean, it’s OK. It’s not a problem.”
    She held eye contact with him and he only broke it when Nicolecalled up at him from the