Meanwhile, I completely mean that I didn’twantto be her good deed, but I’m not actually sorry that I was.
I wouldn’t have told Addison what’s-her-face any of my secrets, but that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t have felt like a fool if I found out later that she was the original poster of the viral wedding video.
Would’ve felt a little too much like being back with the rest of my family.
I scratch the dog behind the ears. “Later, Jitter.”
Sabrina shoots me another look.
This one is more complicated.
I think it saysI know you like my dog, and I know why, but I’m not going to tell you how I know why so you’ll wonder if I really know or not.
Zen asked if I was cut out for vengeance.
Not so sure today.
So instead of pondering it, I let myself into the townhouse next door to Sabrina’s.
It’s small and simple, but cozy. Comfortable tan leather sofa with brightly colored throw pillows facing a stone fireplace with as large of a television as will fit over it. Mountain sunset print over a low wooden bookshelf stocked with a healthy selection of reading material on the lone full white wall in the living room, with a fake plant and a colorful swatch of fabric on the angled wall along the staircase.
I like it more than I thought I would. It feels like a place you could have a kid and a dog and where you love your neighbors.
I’m getting out of the shower when Zen gets home. They drove the Mercedes back here from the café after I let them know about the food fight. Which they had already heard about through the local gossip chain.
“Did you eat, or did you just wear it?” they ask when I descend the stairs in wet hair, sweatpants, and a hoodie.
“Just wore it.”
“And then you took a ride fromSabrina.” They sing her name like we’re ten-year-olds on a playground.
“Didn’t want to get the Mercedes dirty.”
“Or you like her.”
“No.” Yes. No. Maybe.
I would like her if she worked somewhere else and if I were in a place where I could like people.
Where I could likewomen.
Which I don’t see happening again in my lifetime for anything more than short-term flings.
Exactly like we had in Hawaii.
And where she gave me the biggest puzzle of my life, which has me more intrigued than it should.
I wish she’d truly been from Jawbone, Virginia.
Zen watches me like they know my internal debate with myself. “You should like her.”
“Because you like her dog?”
“No, because she’s like you.”
“What does that mean?”
“That despite having some shitty family, she’s a good person.”
