The troll is out.
Winnie’s puttering around her bedroom.
I texted her earlier that I put fresh sheets on the bed.
Now she’s arguing with her mom about something. Slams the door.
Now she’s snuggled down in her bed, reading a book.
Maybe I should curl up next to her.
She just wants to get laid though, right?
She doesn’t want me to sleep next to her.
Food, I decide suddenly. She’ll want food after sex.
Thirty minutes later, I’m cutting through the backyard.
Her bedroom light is off. She must have known I’m not waiting three days.
I set the food on the windowsill then swing up onto the roof of the neighboring house.
Then I see her, in her bedroom…
With a man…
She’s smiling up at him…
That fucking—
35
WINNIE
Icollapse dramatically in the seat in front of Carolina with my coffee. She’s cutting ribbons for wrapping the boxes.
“Someone got laid!” She folds a black-and-white ribbon over itself.
“Girl. You wouldn’t believe. He had a whole-ass sex room in his house.”
“And you wentin thesex dungeon?” She sets the scissors down hard.
“Came in it, I believe, is grammatically correct.”
“Oh my god.” Carolina’s speechless for a moment. “Well, at least Fitz fucked the stalker out of your life.”
“I mean, it wasn’t as exciting as alley sex.” I wrinkle my nose.
“No…what?No, no, you cannot still be obsessed with your stalker, and don’t use the excuse that he’s the only manin your life. You have Fitz now. He took you on a date. Multiple dates. You had sex in his dungeon,” Carolina begs.
“It was more of a room. It’s not like it was a gross, leaky basement or anything. Everything was brand-new.”
“Dude, I’m concerned. Especially with the notes. Boring is better than exciting. You can’t have kids with exciting. What are you gonna say? ‘Daddy’s not here right now because he’s out peeping Tommy in his latest victim’s house’?”
“No!”
“Forget the stalker. Don’t girls dream of the fairy-tale stalker prince? Settle for the guy who owns the penthouse and is slightly less emotionally unavailable than usual.”
