Across the lounge Marcus Hale sat in an armchair drinking coffee from a paper cup, watching them. He looked rested. He had been seeing a dental hygienist named Rosa, who had come to the house twice and knew to take her shoes off at the door because Theo liked the floors quiet. He and Celeste talked on the phone sometimes, on Sundays. Not about anything important. About Theo, mostly. About Danny. About the weather, which both of them cared about more than they used to, because weather meant whether the flights would go.
He had never told her he forgave her. She had never asked. She thought perhaps that was the right way around.
Dana came in from the ramp. "Hey, Theo," she said. "Captain says it's CAVU all the way to Boston. You know what that stands for?"
"Ceiling and visibility unlimited."
"That's my guy. Five minutes."
Theo put each page back in order, then pressed the Velcro shut, all the way across, gently. Then he did something he had never done before. He held the folder out across the carpet toward Celeste, not looking at her, his eyes fixed on a point somewhere over her left shoulder.
She looked at it. She didn't take it.
"For takeoff," Theo said. "You hold it for takeoff. Because I'm doing the checklist with Captain Walt, and he says a first officer needs both hands free for the checklist. Not even the folder." He pushed it a little closer. "You can hold it. Don't open the Velcro."
Celeste took the folder in both hands. It was lighter than she expected. She laid it flat on her knees and put her hands flat on top of it.
"I won't open the Velcro," she said.
Theo nodded once, satisfied, and got up and went to the glass doors to watch the airplane, counting rivets under his breath.