“What do you mean by that?”
She rolled her eyes. “How long do you think this can just…be the way it is? How long before one of us gets emotionally invested? How long until one of us meets someone else? I mean, maybe none of those things will happen, especially to you since you have no feelings, but I have a hard time believing this can just go on forever. And neither of us wants it to.”
“But if it’s working for us, why change it? Why not just…let it work this way for as long as it does.”
She closed her eyes for a long moment. “All right. And then the minute it isn’t working, it’s over?”
“I guess so.” Which was all he could offer, but Caleb still felt a little twinge. Did he want this to be a big thing? No. Did he want it to end? No.
She seemed dissatisfied with his answer, too, and turned toward the TV. Caleb looked at what appeared to be an episode ofLaw & Orderfrom the ’90s.
“We talked about this. This right here is all I’m capable of right now,” he said.
“Fine.”
“You’re mad.”
She grunted. “I’m not… Okay, I’m a little mad. Do you even like me?”
“Yeah, of course I do.”
“As more than a body?”
He had to think a little harder about that. He wouldn’t have broken protocol if he didn’t though, would he? “Yes.”
“Am I wasting my time here?”
“Is there somewhere else you need to be?”
“No.”
“Then…”
She sighed again. “Status quo it is, then.”
Chapter 19
The crack of thunder outside ensured a slow afternoon at the café. Lauren tidied up the cat room, lamenting the weather interrupting her business.
“I went on a Tinder date last night,” Paige said. “This guy Brandon who lives not far from here.”
“Okay.” Lauren picked up a series of cat toys off the floor while Paige draped herself in a chair to tell her story.
“So, first of all, we ate at this upscale Mexican restaurant near Smith and Bergen, and the food was delicious. I think it was maybe the best Mexican food I’ve had in New York.”
“Low bar,” said Lauren. Any cuisine from around the world was available somewhere in New York City, but Mexican food was decidedly mediocre if one didn’t know the right places to find it. The popular Mexican restaurants in midtown Manhattan could provide a serviceable burrito, but for Lauren’s money, the best Mexican food she’d had come off a food truck she’d found in Red Hook one time when she got lost trying to get to Ikea. Which meant she’d never find it again.
“I mean, it’s probably notauthentic,” Paige said. “It was tasty, though. But get this. When I was walking there from the subway, I walked past a store that only repairs those fancy trendy strollers all the rich parents have.”
“Are you serious?”
“Yeah. Can you imagine? A whole business whose only job is to repair one brand of stroller, and there’s enough business in the neighborhood for it to stay open.”
“That’s wild.” Lauren shook her head. “I mean, we’re clearly part of the problem, but it’s amazing what gentrification brings to Brooklyn. A cat café is one thing, but a stroller repair shop?”
“The Mexican restaurant is a block from that new indie bookstore, so I made Brandon take me there after dinner so I could check it out. Compare it to Stories.”
“And?”
