“Nothing. Just a muscle spasm.”
I notice for the first time that I can see her ribs through her back. She’s very skinny. “I’m worried about you. You’re so thin.”
“It’s just stress. It’s gotten better, haven’t you noticed?” She takes a few deep breaths, lies back, and puts her head on my chest. “You feel good.”
Life has changed in the last two months. I never thought I’dhear Dani say nice things to me again. We had created a vacuum, a black hole that we existed in for so long that it seemed impossible to get out of. We were both so closed off. I don’t know how we made it back.
I run my hand over her shoulder and down her arm. I feel what I took for granted. Why didn’t I want to stay in bed like this next to her? We both got into the habit of being complacent and I’ll never let it happen again.
“Dani, I think you should go to a doctor and get checked out.”
“I swear to you, Alex, this is literally work stress.”
Leaning over, I kiss her neck and whisper, “Well, I can relieve your stress, then.”
—
Dani and I are sitting across from Noah and Ethan at Umami Sushi, Dani’s favorite restaurant. They’re staring at us in a way that is making me feel like they’re our parents.
“What’s this all about?” Noah says.
Dani and I both ignore him. She waves a server over and then raps off an order for the whole table. Once the server is out of earshot, Dani shrugs and says, “What’s this all about, you ask? Sushi? Well, it’s fish. Some of it’s raw, some of it’s not. It’s all delicious. Except for eel.”
“You guys are such weirdos,” Ethan says. “We know you’re sneaking around with each other.” He rolls his eyes dramatically.
“How did you know?” I ask.
“G-Ma told us. So you brought us here to tell us this big news we’ve known about for a month?”
I jerk my head back. “Grandma knows? How does she know?”
Dani smiles. “She’s nosy, and they’re right, we’ve been obvious. Well, I guess that’s that, then. Where’s my edamame?”
“That wasn’t all we wanted to talk to you about,” I say. “We don’t…your mom and I don’t…” I stumble over words.
“We don’t want you guys thinking we’re getting married again, because we’re not. We’re also keeping the apartment,” Dani says.
Noah shrugs. “Cool.”
About halfway through the meal, I look over and see her holding her neck. “Are you choking?”
She shakes her head no. She swallows. “That was a big bite. And my throat’s been bugging me lately—maybe I have strep or something.”
“You really need to go get checked out,” I say.
“I will, I will!”
“What’s wrong, Mom?” Ethan says.
“Just anxiety and stress about the show. It’s nothing.”
“So is, like, the house ours, and you guys get the apartment?” Noah asks.
“So, like, no, not a chance in hell,” Dani replies.
Noah looks at Ethan. “I tried.”
32
