Chapter 5: After the Next Thing

Mrs. Ashworth walked past her son and out into the rain.

He did not stop her.

He climbed the stairs with water running off his jacket.

Maggie picked up her box.

"I'll take this up and leave it by your door," she told me.

"Then I'm going to sit in my truck and not listen."

"Maggie."

"For longer, if he's boring."

She went by him on the stairs without a word, and he flattened himself against the wall to let her pass.

Then there was only the landing and the open doors of the neighbors, who closed one by one.

"How did you find me?" I said.

"Your father."

"My father gave you my address?"

"He hung up on me twice."

"The third time he said, 'If you hurt her I will put you through a table saw.' Then he gave it to me."

I almost smiled.

I stopped it.

"You've been standing out there the whole time."

"Since your boss's truck pulled up." He wiped water off his face.

"I didn't know my mother was coming. I swear I didn't. I'd have stopped her."

"She's known for six years."

"I know. I heard."

His voice was low and rough.

"I'm sorry. For her. For the garden. For all of it. I don't know how to say it so it's big enough."

"You don't have to."

"I do."

I turned and unlocked the door of my apartment, because I could not hold his eyes any longer and stay upright.

He followed me inside, and I let him.

The room was bare except for three boxes, a lamp and a mattress against the wall.

The rain beat on the slanted ceiling.

He stood in the middle of the floor and looked at all of it.

I watched him understand that I had started a whole new life in a weekend.

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