“Yeah, well...” She felt herself blush.
Russ grinned and put his arms around her.
She tried to pull back. “I’m covered in fur. I’ll have to lint-roll you again.”
He tugged her close. “Don’t threaten me with a good time.”
Cherry laughed and rested her arms on his shoulders, holding the lint roller away from his head.
Dinner was great. Even though the restaurant owner recognized Cherry—she’d been in before with Tom—and asked her about theThursdaymovie. Cherry ordered green curry and tried not to eat too much rice. Russ talked to their waiter about the mayor’s plan for public transit.
After dinner, they walked back to her house and sat on the couch, kissing. When Russ started unbuttoning her dress, Cherry led him upstairs—to her bedroom, which had also been hastily de-Tommed. (She’d basically swept everything under the bed or into a drawer; anything more thorough would have incapacitated her for days.) They made love in her bed again, using the still-not-expired condoms, and this time was even better. Cherry didn’t worry about any of the reveals. She knew she could come with Russ, so she let herself do it. They were still getting to know each other. They were still smiling a lot.
She asked Russ to stay the night, and he said yes. He was out the door before Cherry’s alarm went off the next morning.
Chapter 15
When Tom called Cherry, he still came up in her phone asEmergency Contact.
She debated whether to answer. She was at work. She could always text him to see what he wanted—she and Tom hadn’t really talked on the phone since they’d stopped fighting.
She got up to close the door to her office. “Hello?”
“Hey. It’s me... It’s Tom.”
“Yeah,” Cherry said. “Hi.”
His voice was tight. “How are you?”
Cherry’s was tighter. “I’m fine, Tom. How are you?”
“Oh. Fine, I guess. Um...”
Cherry waited a second, then prompted—“Tom. Why did you call?”
“Uh... right.” He exhaled. “I wanted to give you a heads-up. Or, um, figure out... I’m coming home next week. Back to Omaha.”
“Oh.” That shouldn’t be surprising. Tom had to come back eventually. “Okay.”
“I was gonna pack up my stuff—whenever that works for you.”
“Right.” Right. This had to happen, too. “Okay,” Cherry said, “just... I guess, tell me when you want to come over. Maybe you could do it while I’m at work?”
“I mean...” Tom sounded unsure. “We’ll probably have to talk about it, right?”
“No.” Cherry didn’t want to talk to Tom about anything. “Just come get your stuff.”
“Well... it’s our stuff, most of it.”
“What do you mean—what all do you want to take?”
“I don’t know,” he said. “What if I wanted something from the kitchen?”
Thekitchen? “What do you want from the kitchen?”
“I don’tknow, Cherry. I haven’t been home for almost a year.”
“And you’ve done without everything in the kitchen so far.”
