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me.”
    He went to kiss her. She turned her head, offering her cheek.
    “It’s been a long day.” She crossed her arms over her breasts, smothering them beneath the nubbly sweater. “I have a client consult early tomorrow.”
    “They took my uncle away.” It was smarmy and manipulative, he realized that. But he had to get her to drop the put-upon snit she was hiding behind. He deserved better.
    The almond eyes turned glassy. “What are you saying?”
    “ICE.
La migra
. They nabbed him at the port and we don’t know where he is. My aunt and some of the other women from the trailer park have gone down to the federal jail in San Bruno, see if they can find anything out.”
    “Who’s looking after your brother?”
    “Godo’s fine. He won’t really need me till morning.” There, he thought, that puts things plain.
    “I can’t let you stay.”
    Roque forced a smile. Can’t? “I didn’t ask to.”
    “Not in so many words.”
    “Not in any words.”
    “You’re angry.”
    “You’re talking to me like I’m a problem.”
    Just outside, a neighborhood cat in heat emitted that distinctive guttural howl.
    “Look, I’m sorry about your uncle.”
    “Yeah. It’s fucked. But you can’t let me stay.”
    “You said you didn’t want to.”
    “I said I didn’t ask.”
    “My God.” She pushed her hands into her wild black hair. “What are we fighting about?”
    “I’ll go.” He turned for the door.
    “Roque, I don’t have what it takes for this.”
    He glanced over his shoulder. “For what?”
    “For what’s happening, right now, between us.”
    “And what’s that?”
    “Stop it!”
    “Stop what? I’m serious.”
    “This game you’re playing. This
thing
that you’re
doing.”
    “Huh.” He struck a pose. “This thing.”
    “If you want to talk about what happened with your uncle, we’ll talk. But there’s something else going on and I just don’t have what it takes to deal with it right now.”
    “Maybe I should come back when you do.”
    “And what the hell is that supposed to mean?”
    She was shouting. But he’d become invested in seeing her cry. Somebody, somewhere was supposed to cry.
    “I’m just saying, maybe I should come back. Tonight’s, you know, not good.”
    The rutting cat cried out from the dark again. Mariko said, “No. Please don’t.”
    “Excuse me?”
    “I want you to leave and not come back.”
    The cold knot in his chest dropped like a stone into his stomach. “What are you saying?”
    “We both knew this couldn’t go on forever.”
    “I didn’t know that.” He wondered if that was true. “The guy who left—”
    “Here it comes. I knew it.”
    “I love you.”
    She brought herself up short in the middle of an unpleasant laugh. “No, you don’t. You just like the way it sounds.”
    “Why are you insulting me?”
    “I’m telling you the truth. If that’s insulting—”
    “The truth? Agents busted into our trailer today, looking for my cousin. They almost got into a shootout with Godo, I mean they were
this close
, okay? Then, way I hear it, my uncle got chased from his truck at the port, run down like a crook. He’s been hauling loads there five years, suddenly he’s a security risk, the fascist fucks.”
    “Things are different now. You know that.”
    “My uncle’s in a cell someplace. At least, that’s the best I can hope for. But in a few weeks, maybe less, he’ll be on a plane to El Salvador, not much me or my aunt or anyone else can do about it. And we kinda need Tío’s cash input at the moment. Money’s kinda tight.”
    “Maybe it’s time you thought about a job.”
    The tone, he thought, so snide, so bogus. “Okay. You’re right. I should go.”
    “And not come back.”
    “You don’t mean that.”
    “I don’t? I said it—I can’t take this, okay?” A tear scrolled down her cheek. He reached out to hold her but she tore herself away. “Get out!”
    “Why are you—”
    “Get!
Out!”
    She looked around, saw the