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air from the nearby beach waft over him. Tonight had been quite an adrenaline rush. He’d come to the rescue in his movies, but this was the real deal. He’d helped save his friend and it felt more authentic and satisfying than pretendingto be a hero. But he dreaded telling Kate what happened tonight.
    By the time they returned to the beach house, he was elated they’d made it back before Kate came home. Scar grabbed a few snacks and plopped down on the couch and proceeded to watch her favorite science fiction television show. She was a woman with peculiar habits, like DVRing a mediocre cable show with low- quality CGI. Shesaid she liked the show’s message of a never-ending bond between a crew who’d been thrown together by devastating circumstances. She said it was the humanity and loyalty she loved. Something that was rare in the world around her today.
    He grabbed a beer and sat down too. Despite his critique of their obvious limited special effects budget, he usually watched it with her. And some days theywere able to get Kate to watch it too. He liked being a secret fan boy. The episode was almost over when Kate walked into the house and joined them on the couch. She looked as tired as he felt. Chris put her feet on his lap and began massaging them.
    “How was the babysitting assignment?” Scar asked, her eyes still glued to the television. “Did you enjoy springing the crazy director from thenuthouse?”
    “Eventful.” She kicked off her shoes. “Max is beyond eccentric, but Virginia’s convinced he’ll direct the next big thing at the studio. He’s not as out of touch as I thought he would be.” She glanced at Chris. “He said he’d like to work with you in about ten years after your soul has been totally corrupted by Hollywood commercialism and you’re looking for a project to redeem yourinner thespian.”
    Chris forced a smile. “That’s great.”
    Kate looked at him then at Scar. “What’s going on?”
    “What do you mean?” Chris asked.
    “You two are usually arguing about the plausibility of half the things in the episode by now. But you’re sitting here like you did something and I’m going to be pretty pissed when I find out what happened.”
    “We saved Chris’s druggiefriend Darwin from certain demise tonight,” Scar said in a droll tone. “It was all very cloak and dagger. I almost had to use one of my grenades. Then we took him to a rehab facility afterward so he can get clean.”
    Kate’s eye widened and she jumped to her feet. “Are you OK?”
    “I’m fine. You know Scar would never let anything happen to me,” he said.
    “Are you kidding me? You wentoff to play cops and robbers with Scar to rescue that crazy-ass Darwin? You’re lucky you didn’t get shot.” Kate paced in front of the coffee table.
    “Chris wasn’t in any danger. Although the grenade going off would have been much worse,” Scar replied.
    “Scar, you’re not helping.” Chris made eyes at her.
    “Guess that’s my cue to finish watching in my room.” Scar turned off the televisionand headed for her bedroom.
    Chris started to speak, but Kate shook her head like she wasn’t ready to listen. She went into the kitchen poured herself a big glass of wine and returned with the stemware and the bottle. Once she’d taken a few more sips, she sat next to him and kissed him on the lips.
    “I can’t leave you two alone for a second.”
    He touched her hand, wanting to reassureher. “I was planning to spend the night pigging out and watching TV, but Darwin called. He was in some serious trouble this time. I couldn’t let anything happen to him, but calling the police would’ve meant prison time for him. He deserved another chance.” He shook his head and sighed. “Scar offered to go get him, but I couldn’t simply dump this on her. So we got him out of there and we puthim in a good rehab program. I think we saved him this time, sweetheart. In more ways than one.”
    Kate hugged him. “Promise me