Page 61 of Date and Switch

Raven gave me the once over times three, not satisfied with whatever it was she was looking for.

“When Ivy got married they purchased her old family house in the suburbs of Chicago. She kept this condo for corporate use. It’s capital B boujey. Twenty-four-hour doorman, pool, and spa, right on the lake, steps form literally everything. You can stay here as long as you need to.

The condo looked like it was taken directly out of the pages of some fancy decorators’ magazine. Everything was high end, and light and airy with the warmest gray colors everywhere.

“This is considered Gold Coast. We live in Old Town, which is about a ten-minute walk straight north from here,” Tillie continued.

“Unless you’re walking next to Tillie when she has on six-inch fuck me boots—then you may as well just take a cab.”

Penn pulled his wife into his side and kissed her—without any hesitation given he was standing in front of a semi stranger. She giggled and pushed him away, swatting at his shoulder when he tried to pull her back in for a second kiss. God they looked happy. It was almost overwhelming to witness it.

“There’s tons of stuff to do around here. You’re literally in the middle of everything.”

“I’m actually from Chicago,” I interrupted. “Born and raised. I grew up in the suburbs. Pretty close to where Ivy and Hillary grew up.”

“What a small world! One of Penn’s friends, Gemini Tate, grew up in Chicago too! Actually technically she was Bryce’s—” her voice trailed off at the mention of his name.

“All right we’re going to leave you to your devices. Let us know if there’s anything you need.” Penn pressed the down button on the elevator. “Maybe we can get together for a drink sometime soon?”

Soon turned into brunch the next day. Bear’s wife Marley wanted to meet me, having heard about me, and read the blog. We had a whole family outing at my old favorite from childhood, Walker Brothers.

“’You haven’t even talked to him since you came back from your trip?”

Marley asked, bottle feeding one of her two children and carrying on a conversation concurrently. The baby girl’s name was Tillie, I’d eventually learned. Named after Raven, of course.

“No. Not a word.”

Penn and Raven both were very invested in their breakfast. Refusing to make eye contact. It had to be awkward for them since Bryce was Penn’s brother.

“I miss him if we’re being honest. Even the stupid things that I found annoying like how everything had a schedule, a process, and a place. He hated clutter, always moved my toothpaste and toothbrush back into the holder on the wall—even though it completely grossed me out thinking about how many people’s tooth brushes had hung on that thing and who knew how many mouth germs there were.”

That discussion brought on a wave of memories that clenched my gut.

“How is the Europe deal?” I asked, hoping if I focused on the businessy end of things I wouldn’t cry.

“They’re on hold until whatever is going on in the world gets figured out. No one is traveling right now. All of our hotels have taken a significant hit. It’s just a real bad time to be in the hotel business.”

I could see the stress on his face as plain as day the moment he said that. I wondered how Bryce was handling it. Especially if he was alone in Boston.

“Is your dad in New York?” I asked Penn.

“Occasionally he goes to New York, but for the most part he works from Delaware. Esther works out of the corporate office in New York, but there’s only a handful of employees there. Most of our staff work onsite at the hotel properties.”

“So he’s in Boston, alone? Dealing with all of this stress with tourism down and your Europe deal going to shit…and he doesn’t have anyone to talk to?”

“He has me?” Penn offered. That wasn’t the same though.

forty-one

The world was going to shit. That kind of dumpster fire felt like a poetic reflection of my entire life. The hotel industry was taking one hell of a beating. And every day I desperately wanted to pick up the phone and call Sera.

Her dress arrived. They’d tried to deliver it to her first, but there was no known address for her in Boston any longer. She must have forgotten to put her brother’s New York address down when Isabel asked her for a delivery location.

I learned from Penn that Sera in fact decided to move to Chicago. Since I had the dress to deliver anyway, I figured it was the perfect time to see my favorite brother and sister-in-law. While they brunched, Penn gave me the code to her new condo. Where I waited for her to return home.

So many scenarios played out in my head. She could tell me to go to hell and call security. Or maybe she and the cruise crooner were together now. Since the cruise industry had hit the skids just like the hotel industry, it was entirely possible he decided to come shack up in Chicago with her. I refused to snoop to get that answer. I didn’t move from the sofa. I didn’t want to invade her personal space—though I did want her personal space to invade me. To allow my senses to have their fill of her scent and eventually whenever she arrived, her feel, and the sound of her voice. All the things I’d been missing for the past month.

The doors slid open with such discreet silence, I almost missed the fact that she stood in the living room looking straight at me, speechless. All while I gaped at my phone flipping through pictures of our vacation.

---