The Grumpy Neighbor Wants the Size 22 Girl Upstairs, and the Walls Are Thin novel · Chapter 10 of 24

Chapter 10: All of Him

"You're doing it again," I said.

It was Sunday night in Costa's living room.

He had pushed the couch against the wall so we could watch a movie on the floor.

We had forgotten the movie twenty minutes ago.

I lay on my back on a pile of blankets with my sweater pushed up and his mouth on my stomach.

"Doing what?"

"Holding back."

He lifted his head.

"I'm not."

"You are. Every time. You come in slow, you brace on your arms, you keep your weight off me like I'm made of glass."

"You're not glass."

"Then stop."

His face went careful, and I saw something shift behind his eyes, an old thing, a worn one.

"Molly," he said. "I'm two hundred and forty-five pounds."

"I know."

"I carried a man down a burning stairwell once. His ribs cracked in my hands, because I was too big and too fast."

My heart squeezed.

"He lived," Costa said. "But I don't forget it."

"I'm not him."

"No."

"I'm not fragile. I'm a woman who carries forty-pound boxes up three flights."

"I know."

"Then give me all of you," I said. "The weight. Everything. I want it."

He stared at me for a long moment.

Then he sat back on his heels and pulled his shirt off over his head.

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