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Brooke: Rowena is all set

Reid: K What’s the plan?

Brooke: I was thinking we could go soraph us ‘candidly’ – like we arranged to happen with you and Emma last May, outside the airport

Reid: Shit How did she ever forgive me?

Brooke: You told her the truth when it counted, even if it made you look bad For what it’s worth, I admired you for that Hated the shit out of you at the time, but admired you You were a better man than me

Reid: Haha

Brooke: So, one of the hiking spots in the Hills, really early on a weekday? OH – I know – let’s do it the day he transfers from me to you The kid swap Like divorced couples

Reid: Yeah – perfect That will answer the ‘are they a couple?’ question too

Brooke: Ok, cool Rowena is on this She was stunned that you stepped up, btw I think you’ve gained a new fan She’s a single uy used to knock her around She left the day he hit her kid

Reid: Jesus

Brooke: She says she’s always liked me because I don’t take shit off anyone, lol

Reid: Haha Truth

Reid: So have you heard anything ot the call earlier today – they’ve officially offered it to me But I’d have to be in Australia all of June I can’t do it

Reid: Brooke This is your CAREER Say yes I’ll take hi by then If not, it’ll be a s can come to New York with me It’ll be fine

Reid: Unless you want to do Life’s a Beach instead …

Reid: I’ve heard that Xavier guy is an exceptional kisser …

Reid: And Stan is a geocentric …

Brooke: I’ Holy shit Are you sure? Are you SURE?

Reid: YES We’ll be fine here without you This is going to be his life He’ll adjust I can do this And yes, I even pro and ever-powerful Graham if I need advice

Brooke: Is it okay if I kind of love you right now?

Reid: Yeah Is it okay if I thank you for letting me knock you up?

Brooke: God, we’re weird

Reid: Hell yeah we are

27

DORI

‘Hey, Deb’ I lean to kiss her temple and she blinks, but her fixed expression otherwise reht youtired of tulips, and also, one of Dad’s rosebushes bloomed They’re pink – which I know you think is such a cliché flower colour But they sood that I didn’t think you’dlast week’s purple tulips in the trash can, I rinse and fill the vase in her bathroom sink It’s been five weeks since I’ve seen my sister

Five weeks since we buried Esther Four weeks since Reid and I were in San Francisco Three weeks since I’ve spoken to hi voicemails

‘I like Cal My roommate, Shayma, is from Louisiana You’d love her She’s a business major, but she does community outreach projects with me’

Shayma hadn’t asked about Reid – or the fact that I hadn’t o When I told her I hadn’t had a chance to talk to him in a few days, she pursed her lips and said u all intro classes this semester, but ht – the campus is one funky place There’s a full-scale T-rex rounds are beautiful, but the architecture is all over the place And there’s tons of activist history intact – like the building that’sprotests fifty years ago, students chained the doors shut, and the adain In the upper plaza, student groups hand out flyers and sell things to raise roups have tables feet apart, but everybody stays reh Deb’s short hair, I recall what it looked like before her accident She had beautiful shoulder-length hair, chestnut with auburn highlights she did herself Now it’s short, dull and frizzy; Iconditioner with rown back in, though the surgical scar will remain a sort of odd, random part at the back of her head

‘Berkeley feels like a sh it’s not It’s definitely not like LA or San Francisco – which you can see fro hasn’t rolled in’