Harriet pauses, then smiles. “You and Nathan have a lot in common.” I laugh a little. I can’t even take offense—Harriet’s right. I skirted and dodged and evaded this conversation exactly the way Nathan would have, the way he refuses to have conversations off the page. “Friends again?” Harriet asks.
Now I smile. “Thank god,” I say, relief fluttering its wings in my chest. “I can’t do this alone with him.”
She laughs, leaning her elbow on one armrest. Suddenly, seamlessly, our relationship feels whole again, like we haven’t missed years of strained distance. “Remember in Italy when you two got in that screaming match at two in the morning about—what was it, even? I just remember coming downstairs and threatening to pour water on your laptops if you didn’t shut up.”
My smile widens. “He had some metaphor he was fixated on,” I say. “After you scolded us, I went to bed and proceeded to send him shouty texts for the next hour.”
“I should’ve figured.” Harriet shakes her head, playfully rueful. Then her expression shifts. Sincere, even somber, she speaks softer. “Can I say one thing without you not speaking to me for the next four years?”
I tense. Right when the ground felt solid under my feet, she’s reminded me it’s still thin ice. “If you insist,” I say slowly.
“I don’t know what feelings are left between you and Nathan. Maybe it’s just resentment. Maybe it’s—” When I shoot her a look, she wisely doesn’t finish the sentence. “Whatever it is,” she goes on, “it will come out in this book you’re writing.”
“We’re professionals,” I reply instantly, noticing how rote the words feel. How like a prayer. “We can separate ourselves from our work.”
“No,” Harriet says. “You can’t.”
I say nothing. While it’s possible Harriet mistakes my silence for stubbornness, I’m guessing she sees my helplessness for what it is.
She stands up. “No one creates from nothing,” she goes on. “You will put yourselves into your writing. Just . . . be careful.”
While I want to object, I don’t know how. Isn’t it exactly what Nathan and I have been doing? Drawing our animosity into our pages? I cross one leg over the other in a meaningless, uncomfortable gesture.
“It’s hot as shit in here,” Harriet declares. It’s a reprieve, a generously early end to the discussion. A kindness from a friend. “Want to go for a swim? You can borrow a suit.”
“Yeah. Sure. That sounds great.”
I follow her upstairs, my mind stuck in the living room, snagged like fabric on a sharp corner. The seam starts to open, and I’m left mulling on Harriet’s warning. I’m not wondering whether she’s right—she is. I’m wondering which parts of myself will end up under Nathan’s pen.
23
Nathan
My run was punishing, exactly what I needed. I don’t prefer running after sundown the way I’ve had to on this retreat. Our neighborhood has so few streetlights that every passing car is a danger. Today, though, I’ve had nothing to do except run. I’ve wrung perverse enjoyment out of tracing my route with the sun pounding down on me, squinting while I navigate the paths I usually do in darkness.
I don’t know what Katrina’s doing right now. I doubt she’s on the phone with Chris, whom I’ve hardly even seen her texting since we got here. She’s probably on the porch, immersed in whatever she’s reading, not noticing the tops of her feet have started to sunburn.
Rounding the corner onto our street, I slow my steps. I’ve been out for over an hour, and sweat is pouring down my back. As I walk, I see a woman struggling to lift a rug. It was obviously delivered to the curb, leaving her to wrestle the heavy roll to her door. I recognize her, sort of. Straight blond hair strangled into a ponytail like she was in a hurry, long legs in spandex. I’ve seen her several times in the past few days, hauling boxes into the back unit on the lot. From the looks of it, she’s just moved in.
Glancing up from the uncooperative rug, she spots me. “Hey,” she calls out. I hear something Southern in the one-and-a-half syllables she gives the word. “Mind giving me a hand?”
I hold open my arms, showcasing the sweat dripping off them. “Mind the sweat?”
The woman eyes me. I know the look she’s giving me. It’s one I’ve learned to decipher, living my single life in Chicago. She likes what she sees. Her smile spreads flirtatiously.