But I couldn’t seem to let go. “It’s ok,” she told me, and she rubbed my back just like I’d seen her do with her children. “Shh. It’s ok.” She had to say those things because I was crying on her shoulder, just like one of those children. I squeezed up my eyes and took sniffling breaths, and I held onto her shirt and crumped the cotton in my fists. She had just picked it up from the dry cleaner, too, and she’d had to change into it in the back seat of her car—and now I’d wrecked it.
It was so nice to be hugged, though…
“I’m fine,” I told her, and let go.
“You can visit him,” she suggested. She pulled a napkin out of her purse, but it had an unwrapped lollypop stuck to it. “Oh, that’s disgusting. Let me see what else I have for you to wipe your eyes.”
“I don’t need anything,” I assured her. “I’m fine, really. Thanks for listening to me go on and on.”
“I’m sure I have a tissue—”
“Ava, I’m really ok.” But it took a bit before she actually left and almost immediately afterwards, Levi called. We didn’t ever call each other, so I was aware that his sister must have ratted on me.
“Yep,” he answered when I suggested that she had been in communication with him. “She sure was. She was upset thatyou refused to get in the car so she could drive you home, so I said I would go get you.”
“I don’t need anyone,” I said irritably. It was easy to be irritated when it was so hellishly hot today, and when you were standing on a sidewalk and it seemed like there was no available driver in the Detroit area to pick you up. Also, I felt a little ridiculous that I’d just collapsed on Ava in public, hugging her like I’d never been hugged before in my life.
It had been a while, though.
“Did she try to pull you into her car, like a kidnapper?” he asked.
“Yes, and she’s exceptionally strong,” I admitted. “I don’t need a ride from her or from you, though. Thank you anyway.”
He said ok and I expected that was the end. I didn’t expect to find him sitting out on the steps with Hernán when the car that had finally arrived then finally dropped me off at my apartment building.
“Hola,” he called.
“Yes, hello.Buenos…” I forgot what came next in order to greet someone in the afternoon. I only remembered that it was a word that didn’t sound anything like “afternoon.”
“Buenas tardes,” Hernán filled in. “You need more work, I’m afraid.” Then he turned to Levi. “Tienes que seguir con las lecciones,” he said, and I didn’t know what that had meant but assumed it was advice that I needed a keeper.
“No one needs to watch me. I’m doing great,” I informed both of them.
“Ava said that you were crying on the sidewalk. She said that you hugged her and wouldn’t let go, and she was really worried about you,” Levi announced.
“Sometimes people get upset. There’s nothing strange about that.” I pulled out a phrase I’d memorized. ¿Cómo se dice‘busybody’en español?” I asked.
“Se dice‘un entrometido,’pero no lo somos,” Hernán answered smoothly.
“This is what happens, Emerson,” Levi said. “You make friends, form bonds, and then people worry about you when you break down on the sidewalk.” He stood up. “You know what I want to do? I want to meet that cat of yours. I hear so much about her, but you’ve never actually introduced us.”
“Cuídate,” Hernán said seriously. I assumed it was a warning, which was a legitimate response to the idea of interacting with Coral. “I adopted the animal for her because I hoped it would be a good companion. It didn’t go as planned.”
“You meant well,” Levi told him. He held out his hand to me to help me mount the steps. My hip didn’t hurt very much today though, not even after sitting for so long at the restaurant.
“You don’t have to meet her,” I said, but he countered that he really wanted to, that he needed to be able to assess for himself if the rumors were true or if I’d just been spreading terrible calumny about a helpless animal.
“Helpless?” Hernán called after him. “Es una escapista. We spent two days looking for her when she ran away.”
“I don’t have anywhere comfortable for you to sit,” I explained as I unlocked my door. “Also, she really is unfriendly.” I cracked it open slowly, little by little, but Coral didn’t try to escape and she didn’t attack. I stepped inside and Levi followed me.
“Here, kitty…damn, Emerson. You meant it literally when you said that you didn’t have anywhere to sit.” He looked around. “How do you live in here?”
“I work there,” I explained, pointing to the desk. “When I want to lie down, I go in there.” I pointed toward the door that led into the bedroom.
He immediately went to inspect that area. “Small,” he commented.“I think you have the same bed that my baby nephew uses. There’s also a cat that’s the size of a mountain lion on it, or is does that animal only look so large because the bed is so damn tiny?”
“Meet Coral, and she’s actually that big.”
