Page 72 of The Best Shot

Everywhere.

Not pretty display books. These had been worked over. Cracked spines, dog-eared pages, margins crammed with notes in handwriting I recognized as his. They sat in stacks on the desk, in piles on the floor, balanced on the windowsill like they might fall any second.

Postcolonial theory sat next to thermodynamics. Automotive engineering wedged in beside philosophy and architectural history. Academic journals slumped over notebooks filled with equations.

It looked like the inside of his brain, spilled across a room.

“Sorry,” he said. “The study’s a mess.”

I stepped closer and found picture frames half-buried under a stack of papers. Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering, Hale Henry.

“I thought your degree was in literature.”

“It is.”

I picked up another frame. Different degree. Different field. “Exactly how smart are you, Hale?”

“Covid was boring,” he said, like that explained everything.

It didn’t at all.

“Hale?”

“Hmm?”

“Doesn’t it bother you that you make no sense on paper?”

His brow lifted.

I shook my head. “I don’t get you.”

“What’s to get?”

“You’re kind. Like, actually kind. You run your own business. You’re not an asshole.” I paused. “Which already puts you ahead of most men.”

His mouth twitched. “Low bar.”

“And you read everything. You’ve got opinions about everything. Art, music—” I gestured vaguely at the room. “All of this.”

“You’ve got degrees you don’t use. You’ve never left the state, and you’re just…” I huffed a quiet breath. “Fine with it?”

He leaned back against the desk, watching me like I was the one being confusing.

“Darlin’,” he said, easy as anything, “I think you’re workin’ real hard to make me complicated.”

“I’m not.”

“Ain’t much to it.”

“Nope.” I shook my head. “Don’t pull the just-a-simple-country-boy routine on me.”

He sighed, shrugged. “I like my life, Yaz. Haven’t had much reason to change it.”

I squinted at him. Didn’t believe him. Wasn’t sure if that said more about him or me.

He just smiled and held out his hand. “Ready?”

I set the frame down carefully and he walked me out through the back door, and the land opened up.