Page 92 of My Favorite Bad Decision
I don’t think I can.
27
KIT
For two days the snow falls, and I’m stuck in my apartment.
I’m not actually stuck. Outside, people are in boots and ski pants and hats, walking through unplowed streets, marveling at this version of the city that’s only existed a handful of times in the past hundred years: no cars, no honking, no traffic. Just ice-laden trees hanging heavy, the pavement a carpet of unbroken white, people who actually notice each other again as if they’ve woken from a long trance.
If Miller were here, I’d be out there with him.
I’d lose a mitten, and he’d try to give me his. If I refused, he’d remove his, too, and put my hand in his pocket.
When the phone rings, for a half-second I think it’s him. That maybe he’s thinking about this as well and wondering if I’d like to share his pocket once more.
“Let me up, Kit,” says Charlie. “I’m downstairs.”
“Why?” I ask.
“I’ve heard a rumor that you’re languishing.”
“I’m not even sure what that word means so I can neither confirm nor deny.”
He laughs. “Fucking let me up.”
He arrives a minute later, handsome and smiling like a guy who just got blown by three models on the way here, which is entirely possible where Charlie’s concerned. He shrugs off his coat and takes a seat without being invited.
“Ah, languishing it is,” he says.
My hair is unwashed and I’m wearing torn leggings, so I guesslanguishingis not a compliment. “I still don’t know what that word means.”
“I don’t want to define it for you in case I’m wrong because I’m now questioning my own definition, but it seems like something people did when they were dying of consumption.She languished away, that sort of thing.”
“So you’re saying that I’ve got tuberculosis?” I ask. “If so, it’s an odd thing for the family to be gossiping about behind my back.”
He lays his phone on the table and smiles at me. “I’m saying that you’re clearly brokenhearted and pining, and given the way Miller was eye-fucking you all through that dinner I assume it’s about him.”
My eyes widen. I knew someone would notice. “That’s crazy. He’s Maren’s ex and she thinks she’s in love with him.”
He sighs. “Mare was just looking for a mast to cling to in the storm. Harvey’s going to be awful when she tells him, and she wanted to believe that some big strong man would be there to stand up to him since you’ve trained her not to stand up for herself.”
My eyes narrow. “This is fun. Anything else you want to blame me for?”
“Loads, but am I right?” he asks. “You and Miller?”
I stare out the window, at the streets I should be walking along without a glove. “I have no idea what you’re referring to.”
“It’s funny the way you both got so tan while climbing a mountain in subzero temps.”
I turn back toward him, jaw locked defiantly. “Have you never skied before?”
“I have, and it doesn’t normally lead to arms as tan as yours or his,” he says with a smug smile, nodding at where my sweatshirt is pushed up around my elbows.
I pick up a magazine. “Charles, I’m extremely busy right now. What is it you want?”
He kicks my foot. “Don’t worry about Maren, Kit. She can take care of herself.”
“I’m not sure what you’re basing that upon.”
