I want to beme. And part of me will always be Miles William Oliver Cumberland IV.
The part thatmademe.
Colliding with who I’m meant to be.
Who Iwantto be.
“It might not take that long for you,” she says. “Or it might take longer. Probably depends on what direction you go now that you’re…out of that relationship.”
I make a noncommittal noise.
She starts to say something else but then closes her mouth.
I side-eye her.
She looks up at the camera in the ceiling corner again.
“But in my opinion, a dog can help when you’re lonely.”
“Did you get another one?”
“Not yet. I might be almost ready again, but…not yet.”
It’s been four years.
That’s a long time to mourn a canine companion.
Not an observation I’ll make out loud though.
I don’t want to know why she hasn’t gotten another dog.
What exactly she meant when she said I did something that gave her purpose.
Where she lives.
Who her roommates are.
If she finished college somewhere.
What her life is like.
We ride the rest of the way in silence, and the doors finally open to the seventh floor.
The suite I booked asTomis at the end of a swampy-smelling hall, and when I push open the door, I’m startled to find it’s a single room.
I wasn’t expecting a penthouse—I’m well aware I’m not in New York anymore, and there was no listing for penthouse suites anywhere in this town—but the listingdidsaysuite.
There should be at least two rooms if it’s a suite, shouldn’t there?
Does the hallway with the microwave and sink seriously count as a full room?
What kind of crap is this?
“Dibs on the couch,” Daphne announces, breezing past the bed covered in a bleach-white comforter to drop her ValuKart bags on the yellow-and-pink striped loveseat. Not a full couch. “I love sleeping on couches. I thought about getting a couch for my bedroom in my apartment, but that’s not the best when I have guests over. Know what I mean?”
I give her another side-eye.
She spreads her hands. “Fine. You got me. Couches aren’t my favorite. But until I look as old as you look, and until I’m paying for the hotels and the food and the gas and my own new wardrobe, fair is fair, and fair is you getting the bed.”
