The thing about wooden porches is they made a lot of noise – like wooden floors and wooden staircases. Now that the boys were in their afterglow, I needed to beat feet. I backed down the steps and when my feet were firmly on concrete I turned to flee. Only I tripped on a crack and stumbled a bit trying to right myself. Which is why I happened to look down the small alleyway between Coop’s and Stephen’s house – to see Coop watching through the window. I tried to be quiet but he heard me coming a few steps before I reached him. He managed to school his face at that last minute, to wipe away his shock and look stoically annoyed. ‘Well, lookie here,’ I chuckled. ‘Whatcha doing, Coop?’ ‘Stephen asked me to tack his cable wire down. It’s been blowing in the wind and it’s only going to get windier.’ I sauntered up to him, damn near giddy to have dirt on him. I stood where he was standing and then, to make up for the height difference, I stood on tiptoe and peeked. I could see them.
