Page 63 of Spindrift

“Nope.”

“ThenI’ll be fine if you promise to get drunk with me.”

“Deal.”Whiskey did sound like a more pleasant alternative than lying alone in her bed.They finished the shopping and headed for home without another encounter withthe piranha.

“Piranha.I love it,” Stevie said later when Morgan shared her lexical revelation over abottle of whiskey. Light still glowed in the evening sky, and Kraken and Marvinlay in the grass at their feet by the fire pit. The small blaze kept the chilloff—as did the whiskey.

“Idon’t get it. She deserves so much better. Why that little fuck?” asked Stevie.

“Maybeshe doesn’t believe she deserves anything better.” Morgan remembered how Angiehad curled up in her lap the day before.

“Ihate caring about people,” said Stevie. “Dogs are so much easier.”

“Todogs.” Morgan raised the bottle in a toast.

“MaybeMarvin will bite her next time she comes over.”

“Haveyou met your dog? He’s the poster child for pittie love.”

“TellKraken to do it then.”

“MaybeJames is just biding his time.”

“Aterrifying thought. I never thought I’d agree with that cat.” Stevie staredinto the fire. “Do you remember senior year?”

“Highschool?”

“Yeah.Who was that girl you were obsessed with?”

“Nora?”

“God,she was hot.”

“Shehas three kids now,” said Morgan.

“Arewe getting old?”

“Thirty-oneisn’t old.”

“Lookat us, though. Single. Childless. Still living with housemates,” said Stevie.

“TheAmerican dream.”

“AndI still can’t believe Kate left.”

Morgangroaned. “Don’t.”

“Ithought you two had it made.”

“Sodid I.” The whiskey was inadequate to burn away that pain. Months later, shestill didn’t understand how she could have been so blind to Kate’s unhappiness.

“Haveyou heard from her at all?”

“No.But I see her face every time I drive by one of her listings.” She’d learned toavoid looking at any Realtor signs she saw on her work routes.

“Youshould sleep with Emilia.”

“You’redrunk, Stevie.”

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