Chapter 12: The Question She Wants

On Monday, I went back to Sadie's with nothing in my hands.

She inspected me from the doorway.

"No trees?" she asked.

"I left the forest outside."

She let me in and put the kettle on.

The small yellow flowers stood beside her lamp.

The bucket in the bathroom held the rest of my apology.

I sat at the table without taking out my phone.

"What would be useful?" I asked her.

She leaned against the counter.

"Tell the truth about the joke," she said.

"Don't promise people I'll forgive it on camera," she added.

"All right."

"And come to the show when you say you will."

I wrote the next date on the back of my folded interview card.

Sadie watched me add the time.

"It's on the ticket," she said.

"I know."

"And the poster."

I stopped writing before I added the address again.

She smiled and brought the tea over.

We talked about what she'd written until I stopped waiting for her to reassure me.

When I left, she gave me a few yellow stems from her favorite flowers.

"For your table," she said.

"Those are your favorites," I told her.

"Exactly," she replied.

I carried them home in a jam jar, trying not to splash my shoes.

Miles was waiting outside my building with a paper bag.

He had called to ask whether I wanted lunch.

I handed him the flowers while I found my key.

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