Something bumped softly against the door.
Cherry waited.
“I made amistake,” Russ said. “And I kept making mistakes. I married the wrong person, and part of that—a big part of it—was that I thought we’d look good together. Like, I could see it, perfect pictures of us in my head...”
His voice was strained:
“I do things because I think I’m supposed to, and I’m not proud of it. It hasn’t made me happy. I don’t want to be that person anymore—I don’t want mysonto be that sort of person.”
Cherry wiped her nose hard on her palm.
“Cherry?”
She didn’t answer.
Russ didn’t say anything for a minute.
Then he said:
“When I saw you at the Goldenrod concert, I felt exactly like I always had. Like I needed to be close to you. You’re so gorgeous, Cherry—and I get it now! I know what to call it.
“You’renotlike the other girls I dated, but none of them were right for me. None of them made me feel like Ifeelwith you.
“Please forgive me?
“Please give me a second chance.
“We’re so good together.You’reso good.”
He thumped against the door again. His voice dropped: “Also, you’re the sexiest woman alive.”
Cherry wiped her nose.
She stood up. And turned off the faucet. She threw her scrunched-up toilet paper into the wastebasket.
She opened the bathroom door.
Russ was leaning against it—he jumped back. He looked like he’d been crying.
“Your brother sounds like a douchebag,” Cherry said.
“He is a douchebag,” Russ agreed. “He’s also my best friend.”
She looked up into his eyes. “Iknew,” she said, with new tears in her eyes. “That night, at the Galway, I knew.”
Russ winced, but he didn’t look away. “I’m sorry.”
“I am never losing weight,” Cherry said.
“Okay.”
“I’m probably going togainweight because I’ve been too depressed to eat for a year—and now I’m not depressed, because you make me feel alive again, and living people eat.”
He smiled a little. “I make you happy?”
“Not tonight.”
His smile fell. He nodded his head.
