She laughs. “On him? Be serious. He’s just a traumatized puppy dog.”
Gordon thinks he’s more like a rabid pit bull.
Renee sighs, “Give me your keys, Thunder. You’re too drunk to drive.”
Thunder leers at Gordon, as if he just got what he wanted. He hands his keys to Renee.
Renee shrugs at Gordon. “Sorry. I’ll see you tomorrow.” She leads Thunder away.
Gordon is floored; he can’t believe she left with Thunder. He decides to talk to Renee about where their relationship is going. He feels like Bruce Springsteen—She’s a freight train running through the middle of my chest… He calls her twice, three times, on his cell phone. She doesn’t answer.
***
Next day in the car, on the way to Harmony, Gordon asks what happened.
“Nothing. I dropped him off at his house and walked home. I turned my phone off, went to bed, and slept well. Had a nice evening with you and did my good deed for the day getting Thunder off the road.”
Gordon thinks Renee is some force of nature. Can he handle dating a hurricane?
Harmony, population eighteen, smells of sagebrush. The blown glass at Harmony Glass Studio is beautiful: large pieces, small pieces, flashes of yellows, reds, and greens, curves, angles, and shadows. Gordon points to a vase and tells Renee he owns one by Dale Chihuly.
Gordon gets a text from Laura: Call Me! So now she knows. He turns his phone off.
“Who’s Dale Chihuly?” Renee asks Gordon and the bearded glass artist showing off his work.
The artist responds, “We don’t like Chihuly around here. He’s sucked the air out of the blown glass market. He’s all anyone talks about. None of the rest of us can sell anything. Everyone wants Chihuly glass.” His torn overalls are patterned with dirt and colors and burns. His name tag says Art! with an exclamation mark.
Gordon thinks Art!’s statement is skewed. “I met Chihuly once. He seemed like a nice guy.” If the prices were cheaper, he might buy one of Art!’s vases. But he likes the fact the studio is also playing Phoebe Bridgers’ music. It reminds him of Renee’s apartment last night. He turns to Renee. “I can’t believe we only met twenty-four hours ago.”