Page 27 of Promise Me Sunshine

“Happy to help.”

It’s just a thing people say, but I actually believe him.

“I’m sure she’s calling up my mother to tell her the story right this very instant.”

Miles grimaces. “Sorry.”

“I’m not. If she tells it accurately, my mother will kick her ass for what she said.” And then I grimace too. “Though she’s not going to tell it accurately. Sorry. You’re probably forever a villain in my family lore.”

He shrugs. “Worth it.” And then he glances at me. “Youmentioned you’re not really talking to your parents right now?”

“I just don’t want them to experience the trainwreck along with me. It’s kind of aGo on without me!sort of thing.”

He’s quiet for a minute, absorbing that. “Did they know her well?”

“Lou? Gosh, yeah. I mean, she was my best friend since I was five years old.”

“And you grew up here?”

“Brooklyn born and raised.”

“College too?”

“Nah. Well, Lou did. She registered for Pratt, in the design school. But she dropped out after her first cancer diagnosis. Never actually attended. Another tragedy, as Marzia would say.”

“But not you?”

“No. It probably makes me apathetic, but I really just never had the interest. I wasn’t a good student.”

“Lemme guess, you talked too much in class and distracted others?”

I laugh. “Oh, suddenly you’re an expert, huh?” I stand and stretch. Those six hours of sleep last night were apparently less than a drop in the bucket because I’m suddenly overwhelmed with fatigue. I can feel it gumming up my cellular processes; my oxygen levels drop, my metabolism slows, and if Godzilla showed up right now, I’d roll facedown and let him stomp me.

He stands too; it’s clear that parting is imminent. He hesitates and then offers me a hand. Like we’re two golf associates who’ve just decided to commit tax fraud together.

“Oh, come on,” I say again, batting his hand away and holding my arms out instead, for a hug. After all, he just took on the most gossipy dental hygienist in Brooklyn for me.

He stares down at me, nonplussed, but then he leans in.

It’s a friendly hug, with our arms alternatingly linked, our ears pressed together, and for a moment he’s stiff. His words come back to me.They’re my only family.I wonder when was the last time he was hugged. Actually, come to think of it, when was the last timeIwas hugged? A moment passes, and the timing arrives when most people would stop hugging. But Miles has just loosened his tension by a shoelace and I can’t let go now. Instead, I cinch up my arms and resituate my chin against his shoulder.

“I don’t do anything halfway,” I warn him.

“Okay,” he says in a low voice.

When we come apart from the hug, his cheeks are slightly pink and he looks a little different to me than he did pre-hug. He’s not quite the scowly asshole I’m used to. Now he’s a scowly asshole who I’ve recently learned could really use a hug from time to time.

He clears his throat and reaches into his pocket to pull out two double-A batteries. “Do me a favor and change the batteries in the smoke detector at the apartment, yeah?”

“Oh. Sure.”

“See you…tomorrow?”

“Yeah. There’s no school. Private school teacher development day, their schedule is all screwy. Reese is working from home but she asked me to come by and hang out with Ainsley. I’ll be there by tena.m.”

“Okay.”

We say goodbye and I give him a wave as we walk our separate ways. I glance back and see that he’s standing on the path, thirty feet back, hands in his pockets, eyes narrowed, studying me. I flash him a double thumbs-up and then shoo him away.

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