Page 31 of Comfort Read

Hi! This is what you should be wearing when Sage picks you up. He’ll be here at 2 p.m.; if anything doesn’t fit, please let me know by 1 p.m. and we’ll get someone up to fix it. Good luck tonight!—Frankie.

Kit tries on the suit. It fits him perfectly; it might be the best any clothing has ever fit him. He looks at the man in the mirror; dressed like this, his messy, sleep-mussed hair looks intentional, his glasses erudite instead of nerdy.

He looks like someone with his life together. He looks like the kind of person he’s always, down in the secret catacombs of his heart, aspired to be.

Kit swallows, and pulls out his phone.

KIT:

Can I ask you a weird question about which I will not accept follow-up questions

ALLISON:

Is that not what friends are for? Shoot.

KIT:

Have you ever had somebody buy you clothes?

KIT:

Not, like, your mom, obviously. And I’m not talking about a sweater at Christmas or whatever

KIT:

I mean more like, has anyone ever bought you an outfit for a date

KIT:

And if so how did you react and was it the appropriate reaction and what IS the appropriate reaction

ALLISON:

My mother doesn’t buy me clothes! She buys clothes for herself and then I steal them, like any self-respecting daughter

ALLISON:

And lollllll, no

ALLISON:

A girl I dated a few years ago bought me a pair of rubber boots so I’d go clean up a stream with her, does that count?

KIT:

Not really, lol. Thanks anyway though

ALLISON:

No problem. I asked Throg all my follow-up questions and he said I should tell you I’m around if you want to talk about anything

KIT:

Liar. He’d never say that

ALLISON:

Yeah okay, you got me All he did was show me his butthole