Oliver's day

Tuesday night, bookshop back room, half eight, Kate on the wobbly stool as she said she would be, arms folded. Oliver runs the full set, opening to closing, the car park line in the middle, and the middle lands as the thing rather than the bit, and the closing lands on the question of whether he can do it twice asked into the empty back room. He does not answer. Kate is quiet for a long time, and says, that was it, Ol, and he says, I don't know if I can do it twice, and she says, neither do I, but you did it once. The not-answering together is the first time they have both been honest about the question, and the honesty is the door they have been standing at for seven years.