where did you find this woman?”
Archie smiled.
Julian shook his head.
“She’s like some Depression-era scavenger.”
More laughter.
“When are you going to let her upgrade her life?”
Archie took a sip of his drink.
“She doesn’t want me to.”
“That’s part of the act.”
Archie’s smile faded slightly.
“What act?”
Julian leaned back.
“The whole independent-girl thing.”
He gestured vaguely.
“Come on. She’s dating you.”
The table laughed again.
Archie laughed too.
But somewhere inside him, something small and poisonous took hold.
He and Skyla had been together
nearly two years.
They met by accident.
Archie’s vintage Mercedes broke down near a cheap diner close to campus.
His phone was dead.
He walked inside furious, soaked from the rain, demanding to use a telephone.
Skyla was finishing a fourteen-hour day split between classes and restaurant shifts.
She handed him a towel.
Poured him black coffee.
