Page 3 of The Incredible Kindness of Paper
Zac:I’m so sorry, Chloe.
Chloe:Can I see you tonight?
Zac:Ugh, I wish I could. But I have the Steinbrenner dinner. I can come over afterward? It’ll be late though
Chloe:No, it’s fine
Zac:You’ll be all right?
Chloe:I’ve… lost important things before.
Zac:??
Chloe:Never mind. I’ll be fine. Talk tomorrow?
Zac:OK but call sooner if you need me.
It was sweet of him to offer, but she wouldn’t take him up on it. He’d been talking for weeks about that client dinner with one of the richest familiesin New York; they owned the Yankees and several soccer teams in the US and Europe. Zac was gunning hard for a major promotion at the investment bank he worked at, and tonight would be an important event for him. Chloe wouldn’t interrupt him just because she was sad.
By the time Chloe stumbled into the big brick apartment building where she lived in Astoria, Queens, she was starving for human connection. Both luckily and unluckily, she had a roommate (because in a city this expensive, it was perfectly normal to be thirty-two years old and still have to share an apartment). Chloe braced herself as she walked in the door.
“Wow, you look like shit,” her roommate said, as she ate her precisely portioned snack of almonds (ten of them) and kale chips (one cup, not overflowing). Becca Huntington was a manager at a health food store and looked like what would happen if you mixed a yoga teacher and a bookkeeper together in an organic cocktail shaker—toned body powered by green juice, topped with a supertight no-nonsense bun and tiny rectangular glasses.
It’s not that Chloe disliked her roommate. But Becca was brassy in a native New Yorker kind of way that Chloe’s tender Kansas heart wasn’t always prepared for, especially in moments like these. Becca, on the other hand, had made it her personal mission to toughen Chloe up while also protecting her. She’d basically adopted Chloe as a little sister, which came with all the fixings of sibling relationships—hugs but also harsh truths when you didn’t want to hear them, a person to unwind with at the end of the day, who also judged you for everything you ate and wore. Plus, as the “big sister,” Becca had plenty of rules about how they ought to live in their shared apartment.
“So why do you look like an eighteen-wheeler just ran over your teddy bear?” Becca asked.
“I lost my job.”
“Ouch. That sucks.”
Chloe set her bag down heavily on the kitchen counter. Becca immediately waved it away. “Gross, Chloe! We eat there. And that bag’s been all over the fucking subway.”
“That’sreallynot the most important thing right now.” Nevertheless,Chloe sighed, threw her bag over her shoulder again, and trudged to her room. She was a grown woman, but all she wanted right now was to call her parents.
I got laid off today. I’m allowed to be a little pathetic.
Chloe gave in to the impulse, flopped on her bed, and wrapped herself in the bright patchwork quilt she and her mom had made together, years ago. Then she dialed.
After just one ring, her mom picked up. “Hi, Lo-Lo!” Next to her, Dad chimed in, “Hey, sweet pea! To what do we owe the honor?”
“I wanted to hear your voices,” Chloe said.
“Everything okay?”
Chloe hesitated. But they sounded so chipper, she didn’t want to drag them down with her. “Everything’s fine, just missed you. What’re you up to?”
“Oh, we’re about to pull into Clay and Mel’s driveway for your cousin Ashlee’s baby shower. Everyone’s going to be here tonight. I see Brandy and Darin’s car over there on the curb, they must’ve come over early to help set up like we did. Your aunt Emily and uncle Joseph’s truck is behind them, and that might be the Millers’ minivan, and…”
Chloe bit her lip as her mom kept listing names of their family and friends in Kansas who’d all be celebrating together. Chloe had been invited, of course, but she couldn’t afford to fly back home more than once a year at Christmas, so she’d sent a cute set of swaddling blankets to Ashlee off her registry.
“Sounds like it’s going to be fun,” Chloe said. “I’ll let you go. I don’t want to keep you sitting in the driveway.”
“We don’t mind,” Mom said. And the thing was, Chloe knew it was true. They’d sit in their car and talk to her all evening if she wanted them to.
“Yeah, but if I had to guess,” Chloe said, “you’ve got several three-gallon tubs of ice cream in the trunk.” Her parents’ quirky ice cream shop was a favorite with the University of Kansas students.
Dad chuckled. “More than usual. Ashlee requested an entire tub of our sweet corn n’ bacon flavor, just for herself.”
