Davy spontaneously hugs me. “I’ll come visit again soon.”
Something twists in my heart as I hug him back. Probably that chicken nugget I ate.
Davy’s waving at me through the window as the plane taxies away.
I’ve always said I didn’t want kids or a family. My brothers and my money are enough. But as I drive away from the airport, I wonder what it would be like to have my own kid. Would he look like Davy, or maybe more like Mandy?
I squash the direction of my thoughts as I pull up in front of the tower.
Seward is there to greet us. “Ms. Pepper!” He bends down to pet the corgi. “Where’s your mommy?”
I freeze. “She’s not here?”
“Who, sir?”
“Mandy.”
“I haven’t seen her.”
“Dammit.” I hand Pepper’s leash to Seward. “I have to go.”
31
MANDY
“It’s horrible!” my sister wails as soon as I walk through the door into my familiar, albeit much dingier than I remembered, studio apartment.
“Lauren, you don’t even pay rent. Can’t you at least clean up in here?”
My sister continues to wail as I pick up an empty Sun Chips bag off the floor and stuff it into an overflowing trash can.
“I had a maid when I lived with Kenny,” she cries. “I’m in crisis, and we don’t have any more wine coolers.”
“I thought you found a new guy?”
“He’s not my boyfriend—we just hook up.” More sobbing. “But not often because he’s busy working.”
“At leasthe has a job.”
“Amy doesn’t need to have a job.” Lauren’s wailing again. “Kenny bought her a charm bracelet, and he’s taking her to England. England isourthing.”
“To be fair, England is a lot of people’s thing.” Turning on the tap, I rinse out an empty wine bottle. “Why don’t you call your friends?”
“They all ditched me when I got with Kenny. They were jealous. Said they didn’t want me to steal their boyfriends.”
“Funny how that works.”
“But…” Lauren sniffles. “No man is going to want you, so you’ll never leave me.”
I set the bottle on the counter with aclunk. “That’s not necessarily true.”
Lauren lets out a peal of laughter. “You can’t mean Salinger! Your boss? Aw, Mandy, he just wants to have sex with you. Too bad you’re going through early menopause—otherwise, you could just get pregnant by him.”
Breathe.“Never mind.”
“I bet you cook for him too. Steak and a blow job? Does he even buy you nice presents?”
“We’re not…” I remember his hands on my skin between my legs. “Like that,” I finish lamely.
