Page 21 of Make Room for Love

It had gone well. Not only had Mira persuaded two people to sign cards, but one of them had asked Mira about attending the weekly meetings. She’d met a first-year who was still on thefence, but they’d had a good conversation. Nobody had been rude to her. They were four hundred cards away from their goal. Mira was talkative this early in the morning—or, for her, late at night—and clearly proud of what she’d done.

“Two fewer cards left to go now,” Isabel said.

“I don’t think I could have done it if it weren’t for what you said to me last week.”

Isabel glowed with warmth. She’d managed to be helpful. She shrugged. “You’re the one doing the work.”

“Well, what you said about finding my own way to do things—I think I needed to hear that.” Mira smiled. “Do you mind if I ask you a favor?”

“Any time.”

“Could I have some of the coffee you’re making?”

Isabel couldn’t help smiling back. “Sure. Are you sure you want it?” The fantasy of carrying Mira to bed and tucking her in returned in full force. Mira’s blouse was wrinkled, and it couldn’t have been comfortable to doze off in. She deserved some real rest.

Mira halfheartedly picked up a paper and set it down. “I have five more of these. It’ll take me at least another hour at this rate.”

“Then sleep for a few hours and do it when you wake up.”

“I guess you’re right. It wouldn’t be a fun day if I had to teach without any real sleep.” Mira looked glumly at the papers again. “Sometimes I feel like I’m always either working or avoiding work, and I never get a break. And the more I feel that way, the more burned out I get and the slower I work. It’s setting in much earlier than usual this semester. Probably because my whole life fell apart, and I had to move and start over.” She sighed. “Anyway, I’m sure it’s different for you.”

“Well, I can’t dig trenches and run conduit at home.” But Isabel knew what it was like to overwork herself to the brink of collapse. If her body hadn’t given out, she might still be doing it.And coming home to an empty apartment every night, with no Mira. “I used to work overtime a lot, though. I wrecked my knee doing it.” Maybe it wasn’t the worst thing to talk more about her own life. To be friendly.

Mira frowned. “How is it now? Is it better?”

Maybe it wasn’t the worst thing to have someone concerned for her, either. “More or less. As long as I don’t keep working too much.”

“The apartment stairs don’t bother you?”

“It takes a lot more than that. I’m fine.”

“That’s good. I’m lucky that I don’t have to do anything harder than carry boxes of exams around.” Mira didn’t sound like she felt lucky. She rubbed her face. “I’m so tired.”

“Take a day off next weekend.”

Mira glanced at her pile of papers. “I don’t know if I could make myself do it. I’d feel so guilty about not working.”

Isabel knew that feeling, too. “Tell yourself you’ll get back to it the next day. Your students will live.”

“You’re right. Ugh. My work isn’t that important in the grand scheme of things.”

“Your work is important,” Isabel said with finality. Mira looked startled. “Don’t say that it isn’t. Just take a break.” She had sounded more brusque than she’d meant to. In the silence that followed, she said, “You been to Astoria Park yet? By the river?”

Mira shook her head. “I haven’t had time.”

“You should go out and see it. I’ll show you around if you want.” Isabel’s words caught up to her. Why on earth had she offered that? Maybe just to fill up space in the conversation, which she usually felt no need to do. Maybe because she had nothing else to do when she wasn’t working.

Maybe because she was lonely. But Mira didn’t need Isabel for finding her way around a park.

Mira seemed surprised. “That’s kind of you to offer.”

“You don’t have to go. But it’s nice.” The park was a slice of green space on the East River, too rare around these parts. And Isabel loved the neighborhood. Hopefully she could stay after her lease on this place ended.

“Actually, I’d love to have you show me around, if you’re not busy.”

Isabel wasn’t busy. She had a dead older sister, and a younger sister who hadn’t spoken to her in months, and an ex who had chosen to move across the country rather than live with her miserable wreck of a partner for a second longer, and a sister-in-law who said she was “worried,” and friends she didn’t talk to anymore because they didn’t know what it was like to lose the only person who had ever truly understood you. “Yeah, I’ll be around.”

Mira smiled sweetly. “I’m looking forward to it.”

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