Chapter 9: Rosewater

My flat is above the bakery, two rooms and a kitchen the size of a coat closet.

We came up the back stairs a little after eight, with two dozen date cookies and a plastic container of my mother's rosewater semolina cake.

Lark stopped in the doorway and looked around.

"It's so you," she said.

"Messy?"

"Warm."

There were cookbooks stacked on the floor, a window full of herbs, and a blue enamel pot on the stove that I'd had since college.

She walked to the bookshelf and ran a finger along the spines.

"You read the same cookbook four times?"

"I like her voice."

"Noor Haddad likes a book because of its voice."

"Shut up," I said, laughing, and took her hand.

I kissed her in the narrow hallway with my back against the coat hooks.

She kissed me back, and then she pulled away to look at my face.

"Can I stay tonight?" she asked. "Like, really stay. Not leave at dawn."

"Lark, you've been staying for a week."

"In pieces. In the loft, and the shop, and the boat. I want a whole night and a morning."

My throat tightened.

"I'll give you a drawer," I said, too fast.

"A drawer?"

"A drawer. In the bedroom. I don't use the bottom one."

She laughed and wiped her eyes with the back of her wrist.

"I'd like a drawer."

"Then it's yours."

I took her through to the bathroom, because we were both still salty from the marina and smelling of kibbeh.

It's a very small bathroom, with a tub and a shower curtain printed with lemons.

I turned the water on, and the old pipes knocked twice before the steam came.

"You first," Lark said.

"We can both fit."

"Barely."

"I'm not saying I mind."

She looked at me for a long moment, eyes half shut and warm.

Then she reached for the hem of my sweater.

We undressed each other slowly, without hurry, folding nothing.

I stepped under the hot water and Lark followed, and the curtain closed around us like a small cloud.

Her braid was the first thing I touched.

I unwound it with both hands, strand by strand, until it hung heavy and wet down her back.

"Hold still," I said.

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