Page 63 - In Five Years

“Not too big,” he says. “There are good bones here. “And Bella tells me she
likes a project.”
“I know that,” I say.
At this, he looks at me. He turns his entire attention toward me—my lone

figure, standing in this swampy, sweaty space, clad in black running pants and an
old camp T--shirt, while the potential of the future hangs around us like storm

clouds.
“I know you do,” he says. It’s softer than I imagined whatever he’d say would
be. “I’m sorry if I misspoke.” He takes a step closer to me. I inhale. “The truth is
I saw you go into the deli. I circled around and followed you back to the water.”

He rubs a hand over his forehead. “I wasn’t sure if I should say hi, but I really—I
really do want you to like me. I feel like we got off on the wrong foot and I’m

wondering if there’s anything I can do to change that.”
I back away. “No,” I say. “It’s not—”
“No, no, it’s okay.” He gives me another lopsided smile, but this one looks

hesitant, almost embarrassed. “Look, I don’t need to be loved by everyone. But it
would be nice if my girlfriend’s best friend could stand to be in the same room as
me, you know?”

This room. This apartment. This unfulfilled space.
I nod. “Yeah,” I say. “I know.”
He brightens at this. “We can take things slow. No meals for a while. Maybe

just start with some sparking water? Work our way up to a coffee?”
I try for a smile. On anyone else, that would have been funny. “Sounds good,”
I say. It feels physically impossible to say something interesting.

“Great.” He holds my gaze for a beat. “Bella’s gonna flip when I tell her I ran
into you. What are the odds?”
“In a city of nine million? Less than zero.”

He goes over to where wires hang unaccompanied off walls. “What do you
think of putting the—”
“Kitchen?” I offer.

He smiles. “Exactly. And you could do the bedroom back there.” He points
toward the windows. “I bet we could get a sick walk-in closet.”
We walk through the apartment for another five minutes. Aaron takes some

photos as he goes. When we head back down the elevator, my cell phone is