When I take a break, I take a cold beer out to the patio and find Cole sprawled in a chair. He opens his eyes when I plop down next to him and smiles hello. His beer bottle is empty, so I take a swig from mine and then pass it to him. He takes a grateful gulp and passes it back with a “Thanks.”
He offers me his hand and I take it. I tip my head to rest on the back of my chair, matching his. It’s late and the sky is black. Probably. It’s hard to tell under all these stars. I scan for constellations—on a night like this it doesn’t seem to matter that I don’t know what any look like. We pass the beer back and forth again and I set it on the table next to the other empty. People talk, people laugh, the music thumps and swells, but the starry sky, unfathomably distant, implies a calm quiet. Te
