Chapter 22: February

Maggie got Pete out of the apartment with one look and a hand on his apron string.

"We're going to buy ice," she said. "A lot of ice. We'll be gone an hour."

"We could be gone two," said Pete, in a small voice.

The door shut behind them.

The ferry horn sounded again, farther off now, and the room went very quiet.

Miles stayed standing by the stove with his arms at his sides.

I sat down at the drafting table and slid my thumb under the flap of the envelope.

Inside was a single sheet on heavy cream paper, folded in thirds.

It had the Lakeshore crest at the top, a small gray tower.

Dear Mr. Everly, Thank you for your message of February 13th.

We have received your request to decline our offer of admission to the Master of Architecture program, and we accept it with regret.

I read the date again.

February thirteenth.

The same afternoon I had been in my seminar, and Maggie had let him in to get a charger.

The same Tuesday, in the same room, with the wobbly chair.

"You wrote this the day you read my letter," I said.

"I wrote it that night."

"Before I'd said a word."

"You hadn't even told me you applied."

I set the page down very carefully, so my hands wouldn't shake it.

"Under it," Miles said. "The second one."

There was a second sheet, thicker, clipped to a lease.

It was a one-bedroom on the second floor of a narrow brick building in Fremont, with a laundromat underneath.

Keep reading free with an account. Start He Told Me to Stay Away, So I Left and He Followed from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.