“Levi, you’re missing the point. I would only go if you think you might need that kind of support person, if they’re going to be mean.”
“They get on my nerves, but I don’t pay much attention,” he said.
“Oh. Well, then I’ll tell Ava—”
“You know what?” he interrupted. “As much as I hate to admit it, I think my sister is right again. It would be very nice to have my own pit crew at that wedding.”
“Pit crew, like people standing in holes? What do you mean?”
“Emerson, you’re missing the point,” he said, smiling. “Would you go with me?”
I said I would.
“Black tie,” he said pensively, and I prepared to tell him that I had plenty to wear. I could have shown him, too, since everything was in the small closet across from us. “That means a tux, right? Damn, I hate those things.”
“You’ll look very nice in it, though.”
“Think so?” he asked, and I nodded, because he would, absolutely. He was as handsome as Cary Grant but not exactly in that classic Hollywood way…more like Jimmy Stewart, because he was so approachable, but also a little aloof, like Gregory Peck. Anyway, the combination was amazing.
“Yeah, I wouldn’t mind a tuxedo too much,” he continued. “You and I would have fun.”
Fun? I wasn’t sure about that; I’d never enjoyed parties due to all the stress, but it would definitely be different with Levi.
I still must have looked doubtful because he nodded. “We’ll have a great time. What would they say in one of the movies you like? How about, ‘Stick with me, sweetheart, and we’ll paint the town red,’” he told me, and I smiled, too. It was weeks away but I was already looking forward to it.
Chapter 8
It was such a shame that we had to do this now, when it happened to be the most sweltering day of the summer and also the day when the electricity had gone out.
“Damn,” Levi groaned. “I should say,hotdamn.” He wiped his forehead against his sleeve, then picked up the front of his t-shirt to rub it again. When he did that, I could see that he really did get a lot of exercise. He had the nice rectangular muscles in his stomach that—
“¡Hostia!” Hernán yelped from across the hall, and the word accompanied a thumping sound. “Se me cayó—¡me cago en la leche!” There was a terrible crash, and then more muffled swearing.
Levi pointed at me. “Sit there,” he told me, and pointed to the couch that we’d recently placed in my living room, the one that had formerly sat in Hernán’s instead. He strode off to see what was the trouble and I, gratefully but overheatedly, sank onto a cushion. My neighbor had been doing a lot of packing, which Iknew because I’d seen him and helped him, too, and we’d gone several times to buy more boxes and tape. He’d gotten rid of a ton, donating it to several organizations and also selling some things online. We’d sorted and marked what he would pass on to me, and as this day approached, he’d expressed a lot of confidence that his move would go very smoothly.
It had not. Hernán had planned to set off on his road trip fairly early, before ten AM for sure. It was now…I looked at my phone. How had it gotten so late? It was nearly four, and we still weren’t done. His daughter, Lucía, was upset and worried about the delay, since she’d laid out a careful route for him and booked hotel rooms along the way. She didn’t want him to drive at night, for one thing, and she didn’t want him to feel like he needed to speed. She had texted and called many times, wondering why he wasn’t leaving. It wasn’t what she’d planned, either.
But there had been problems. Levi had arrived this morning to help load the car and carry large items into my apartment, and when he’d seen the amount of stuff, he’d shaken his head. “Hernán, ¿en serio?” he’d asked.“This won’t fit in your car.”
My neighbor felt strongly that it would but as they carried out boxes and bags, it became obvious that Levi had been correct. Hernán had needed to rent a trailer, which had taken forever and had involved Levi lying on the ground under the bumper for a while to do something with installation. It meant that, along with sweat, he was also covered with dirt and grease.
In the meantime, I discovered that nothing in the kitchen was packed, that the mattresses weren’t sitting on a frame but wereinstead balanced on more boxes of my neighbor’s possessions, and that the closet (which he’d promised was “almost empty,casi casi”) was packed to the brim.
Then the lights had gone out, and the air conditioning had made a thumping sound and stopped blowing. The temperature had immediately started to climb.
“The outage covers several blocks,” Levi had said, checking his phone. “There’s no estimate for restoration.”
We’d kept going. Hernán had thoughtfully provided lunch out of the refrigerator that was nearly full because for some reason, he’d just gone grocery shopping and had bought out half the store.
“Tenía hambre,” he’d explained. “It’s a bad idea to go shopping on an empty stomach.” I’d started ferrying over food to my own fridge, but it was probably going to spoil due to the lack of power.
But now, hours later, it seemed like Hernán really was close to leaving, if he had survived the crash we’d heard. His apartment was nearly empty and mine had been transformed with furniture, a brimming fridge, a full set of dishes, and even some pictures hung on the walls. I was grateful but the changes also made me a little uneasy, like I wasn’t sure where I was anymore. Coral was worse—she had been acting crazy in the bedroom and Levi had gone in to soothe her more than once, since he seemed to have that magic touch.
This hadn’t been the easiest day, and that wasn’t just because I was hyperthermic and unfamiliar with my own home. My hiphad also started to ache more than it had in weeks. And as Hernán’s apartment got emptier, I felt worse emotionally, too. I’d already realized that I would miss him, but it was more than that. I had another realization: this had been an opportunity that I’d wasted, that I’d somehow overlooked. Why hadn’t I recognized the relationship bonds that we’d established? Soon, he would be driving to Nevada and I’d be out of sight and out of his life.
“The closet doors fell off on him,” Levi explained as he reentered my apartment. “Did you ever check the cupboard above the freezer?”
“No. I can’t reach that high and neither can Hernán. I assumed it was empty.”
