Page 20 (1/2)

I shrugged, still picturing the life I used to have

"Isn’t it funny how one day you’ll be hoping for sooes away?" Haleyhere the snoas still co down

We watched it for a while, then Haley told me about the time she first becaht, theshe atching on TV Anyway, she was a little girl living in a wealthy suburb outside of Portland And for her sixth birthday, her parents took her into the city to see a ot dressed up and everything, hopped in her dad’s Mercedes andby this one McDonald’s, in a sketchy part of the city, where she saw a group of black wo tons ofto understand that Haley was in the backseat, in her fancy white dress, staring at these wo like it Her dad stopped at a light right in front of thee, Haley stared and stared, until one of the women turned and met eyes with her But Haley still couldn’t look away She was transfixed After a few seconds, the woh heels, and pointed a finger in Haley’s face "Wha’chu staring at, white girl? You trying to steal my story?"

"I don’t knohy I just told you that," Haley said "I don’t think I’ve shared that with anyone before Not even irlfriends"

We both stood there aardly for a few seconds It was like we’d ripped open our chests and revealed our beating hearts And how do you transition back to small talk after that?

Finally Haley cleared her throat and said she was going to clean up She seemed embarrassed I went over to the couch and tried to read my book, but all I could think about was Haley’s story Did she tell ht I was fro to do witha blizzard As soon as the skies cleared,would slip away froht ti And then Haley walked back into the living room, her hair wet, makeup freshly applied She lookedclean," she said

"Me, too" I pulled et in there today," she said, " with that hair?"

I pulled off my beanie "You mean this?"

She took a few steps toward uard "At least you don’t have to worry about going bald," she said

I pulled e your mind about dinner just come up Doesn’t matter what time"

"Cool" I opened the door for her

Haley did the "eye contact" thing, which led to the "unbalanced" thing "Because I don’t see how a call hoave a little wave and left

It wasn’t until a few hours later that I discovered Haley had left her towel and bathrooo up to Haley’s for dinner that night

Didn’t call home, either