“Yeah. Why?”
“She got into your head, didn’t she? Tell you not to do this?”
“She just suggested some things.”
“Like that you should focus solely on your dissertation and school?”
“Notsolely, no. But she’s right: I need to finish it soon. You’ve said the same thing, too.” Larissa stood up. “I don’t want to keep them waiting, Harlow.”
“Don’t let her get into your head. If this is important to you, you should do it. Work on both. If anyone can do it, it’s you. You know you’re amazing.” Harlow smiled up at her.
“Take your time, okay?” Larissa placed her hand on her shoulder. “Meet us in there, if you want, or just head home and finish this. Either is okay. I don’t want you to lose the apartment, okay?”
“I’m good. I’ll be done soon. I’m almost halfway there, and some of these pages are just for signatures. Maybe twenty or thirty minutes?”
“Just come in whenever. And you’re amazing, too, you know?”
Larissa smiled at her and walked off toward the two women.
Harlow watched her shake their hands and show them through the door that led to the room they always reserved before she returned her attention to the paperwork in front ofher. She checked off a box that she understood that if she got bed bugs in the apartment, she was fully responsible for getting rid of them, that she understood that the unit, as well as the whole building, for that matter, was non-smoking, and when she finally finished, she looked up and found that the lobby room was mostly empty. She glanced down at the clock on her computer, saw that it had been about thirty minutes, checked her phone next, and saw a text from Samantha with the time and location of the bowling alley, along with a second message.
Samantha: For being such a pain in my ass, you’re buying the first round for everyone. That’s at least two pitchers, Harlow. And I want curly fries.
Harlow laughed to herself and then made sure that the paperwork file was actually sent before she closed her computer, put it in her bag, and made her way into the back part of the building after telling Samantha’s replacement at the desk that her friend had her badge, so she couldn’t get in on her own. He looked up at her like she hadn’t even been the first person thatdaywith the same problem and walked over to let her in.
“Thanks,” she said and decided to buy him a coffee or something later because he looked like he hated his job, and she could relate. “Hey. Sorry, I’m late. Am I interrupting?” she asked when she opened the door to the room.
“No, you’re fine,” Larissa replied. “Amber, Sandi, this is Harlow. She’s working on this project with me. She just had to take care of something before she could join us tonight. Is it all right if she sits in on the rest of the interview?”
“Sure,” Amber said.
“Thanks.” Harlow moved around them and took the seat next to Larissa, setting her bag down on the floor. “You don’t have to catch me up or anything. I read the questionnaire you submitted.”
One of the reasons it had taken her so long to get done with the paperwork for her new place was that she’d paused midway, curious about who they were interviewing that night, and she’d read the application Amber and Sandi had submitted. Amber was twenty-nine, and Sandi was forty-two. They had met at a wedding for a friend they unknowingly had in common and hooked up that very night. According to their questionnaire, they’d both had a lot to drink, but when they woke up, they decided to keep in touch. Not long after that, Amber had found herself needing a place to live, and Sandi had offered her a guest room. That sounded familiar to Harlow. After a few weeks of living together, though, Amber and Sandi had hooked up again, and they had been together ever since. If Harlow remembered correctly, that was three years ago, and now, they officially lived together as a couple. Yeah, Harlow could only dream of that. For one, she was about to have her own apartment, and once she sent in that deposit and first month’s rent, that would be it – it would be too expensive to break the lease. She knew that because she had just read that part of the paperwork. It was only a yearlong lease, though, so if she did tell Larissa how she felt and Larissa felt the same way, they could live apart for a year, and she could move in officially as Larissa’s girlfriend in a year. In that moment, for some reason, she looked over at Larissa, who was smiling back at her awkwardly.
“What?” Larissa gave a little laugh.
“Nothing. Why?”
“You’ve been smiling at me weirdly.”
“Oh, sorry. Just… happy to be here. Sorry for the delay. I’m moving and had some paperwork to fill out.”
“No problem,” Sandi said. “We just bought a new place together, so we get it. You always think you’re done because you’ve finished signing everything there could possibly be tosign, but then, they throw something else at you and tell you to sign that, too, as your hand is about to fall off.”
Sandi laughed, and Amber looked over at her.
“It’s the first time I’ve owned anything, besides my old crappy car, so I had no idea it was that bad, but she’s right. My hand was killing me after we signed everything. I could barely get the key in the lock of the house we just bought.”
Amber laughed at her own joke.
Harlow wished she owned something, too. Her car was hers, but it was so old now, and she’d bought it used to begin with. She was ready for a house of her own. Well, she wanted a house that could be made a home with someone else, and as Larissa asked her next question, Harlow thought about how she could possibly make that home with Larissa and no one else.
CHAPTER 23
Harlow was filling out paperwork for an apartment. No, she hadfilledit out. It was done. Submitted, probably. Now, she was sitting next to Larissa, looking like she wanted to be anywhere else but there. Normally, Harlow participated in the interviews or, at least, looked interested in the responses, but since she’d arrived, she’d been sitting and staring out the wall of windows as people wrapping up their days walked by.
To be fair, Larissa herself wasn’t doing much better. Her sister hadn’t exactly told her to stop working on these interviews, but as they’d sat down at their table for lunch, Aggie had suggested that Larissa look at the interviews as a chance to gather more data for her paper and use them for that until after she had the Ph.D. Then, if she still wanted to work on a book, it would haveDr.Larissa Hanson on the cover, which would give it more credibility. Aggie hadn’t been wrong, but Larissa had countered that she wouldn’t finish writing it, editing it, and learning how to self-publish the thing before she completed her doctorate, which meant that she would already have that title before it was on sale. Aggie had remained skeptical about the amount of time Larissa spent on something that didn’t pertain to school, though.
