David might not have been physically unfaithful to you ...
No. Maybe not. But this wasn’t being physically unfaithful either. She was just talking to her neighbor. The neighbor next to her place that was just hers. Part of her new life that was just hers.
“Board games,” he said. “Tabletop.”
“Tabletop?”
“LikeDungeons & Dragons. That’s where the name of the store comes from.”
She blinked. It was on the tip of her tongue to say she’d heardDungeons & Dragonswas demonic. Then she didn’t.
She worked at Lady’s Mantle, after all.
She’d also possibly put a hex on her husband.
Maybe, just maybe, she needed to stop labeling things when she didn’t actually know anything about them, only knew what other people had said.
“I don’t really know anything about that,” she said.
“Come into the store sometime. I can tell you about it.”
“Oh. My ... my kids would probably like that.”
Why had she brought her kids up? He didn’t seem put off by it. “Kidsdolike the store.”
“Well, they’re teenagers.”
His smile slipped just slightly, a line creasing between his brows. “You don’t look old enough to have teenagers.”
She wrinkled her nose. “I regret to inform you that I am. I’m ... Sorry, you didn’t ask for my biography, and I need to bring my takeout inside. But I’m getting divorced. So I’m here now. MaybeDungeons & Dragonswould get my kids to speak to me again.”
He frowned. “Oh. That sounds ... not great.”
“It’s not. I’m the bad guy in this scenario, I’m afraid.”
“You don’t look like the bad guy either.”
“What if I am?” she asked.
“Somehow I doubt it. I’m pretty sure you didn’t move into an apartment above a store you don’t even own for fun. Or make your kids mad at you just for laughs. We just met, but I kind of get that vibe.”
He was a stranger and giving her more credit, seeing her more clearly, than people who’d known her for years. People who could only see in black and white, in sets of rules. She’d been that person until she’d been shoved so firmly out of the black-and-white space she’d been forced to wade in the gray.
It felt good to have someone see her.
“Enjoy your dinner,” he said.
She felt sorry to see him go.
“Thanks. I will. I’ll definitely come into the store.” She turned away from him, maybe a little bit too quickly. Then she walked into the apartment and closed the door behind her, putting her hand on her chest.
“What?” Nora asked.
“My across-the-hall neighbor is ...handsome.” That seemed insipid, but also safer than what she wanted to say.
“Oooh.” Nora’s eyes went round. “Handsome across-the-hall neighbor. How convenient.”
“Well, I don’t ... I would have no idea what to ... I don’t ... I can’t think about that. I had a good conversation with him. I maybe even flirted with him a little bit. But that’s all it’s going to be.”
