“You sound like my daughter,” he told me, and I felt pressure gather in my throat and my chest. “I’ll be very careful.”
“Keep in touch with Lucía, and with us,” Levi said, and they shook hands. Hernán looked at me and I nodded, trying to smile so that he saw how fine I was. He thanked me for all my help, kissed both my cheeks, and got into the car. We waved as he drove down the street and slowly turned the corner with the trailer bobbing behind him.
Levi put his arm around me, and I didn’t mind the thought of cat hair, dirt, grease, or sweat. “It’s a long drive, but he’ll take it slow,” he said. “He has all those sights he wants to see along the way.”
I nodded, but I wasn’t quite at the place where I could speak.
“You could fly out there,” he mentioned next, but now I shook my head.
“No, I can’t afford it. I have so many bills since the accident.” I had finally looked at my inbox and it was terrible.
“Why…” Levi started to ask something, but then stopped and seemed to change course. “Let’s go. We’ll take Coral and get out of here.”
“She’s awful in the car.”
“It’s too hot for her in your apartment. It’s too hot for any of us.”
I agreed. Even he hadn’t been able to pry open the window and the two rooms felt like the inside of Hernán’s scorching oven (which he had used, unlike the one in my apartment).
Somehow, Levi managed to get my cat into her carrier and retain the use of all ten fingers. I watched carefully for any injury, but she was remarkably docile with him. When I took the handle, though, she hissed and freaked out.
“I’ve got her,” he said. “Grab a bathing suit.”
“Why?”
“Most people use them when they go in the water,” he remarked, smiling. “The beaches are probably packed today but I know someone with a pool.”
“Someone,” I repeated. “Does this relate to your friend August and his real estate portfolio?”
“How would you like to submerge in a body of cold water right now?”
I wanted it a lot, to the point that I was willing to overlook any criminal activity associated with said water. I went into my room, which now had a dresser and a chair squeezed in next to the bed, and found my bathing suit and some extra clothes. “What will I do with Coral at a pool?” I called back.
“She doesn’t look much like a swimmer,” he agreed, so we gathered up more gear. “You have everything?” I nodded and he carried the cat, who was calm as could be, and walked to the door. “We can figure out a place for her. Did you know that I have functioning air conditioning in my car?”
“That sounds lovely.” And it was. He started the engine, buckled the cat into the back seat, and we all luxuriated in the cool drafts as he drove. I sighed and closed my eyes.
“Are you thinking about Hernán? I’m sure he’s fine,” Levi said. “Why don’t you text him?”
“He gets mad if people bother him while he’s driving, even if it’s his daughter,” I answered. I would send a message later when it was around the time that he needed to stop and get off the road. “You know what he told me? His ex-wife is trying to make him move out of the house when she comes to visit.”
“I could see how that would be uncomfortable, but now he lives there on Lucía’s invitation. Why should he have to go?”
“Exactly,” I said. “That was my opinion, too.” I squirmed, because my sweaty clothes were drying and becoming scratchy and tighter. “But they’ll have to figure out the guest policy.”
“For you?”
“No, because I’m not going to be able to visit,” I said again. “I’m in debt, which is embarrassing since my profession is keeping track of money.”
“Why didn’t you sue that guy? That boyfriend who caused the accident?”
“There was no point.” I had talked to a lawyer and she sent a letter, and my ex hired a team of attorneys to respond. They had overwhelmed mine with a mudslide of paperwork. She was just a sole practitioner going up against one of the biggest firms in Detroit, and up against the practically unlimited resources of Grant’s friends. “It was never going to come to anything and I would have ended up worse off than when I’d started. I’m getting out of it, slowly.” It was going to take a while, but I would make it if anxiety didn’t take me out first.
“I could give—”
“No, I wouldn’t accept money from you!” I said immediately. “You need to save. Have you looked at the options I sent you for retirement accounts?”
“Yeah. Saving seems like a smart plan.”
