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I stand “That’s my offer Let me know if you accept”

“We can maybe offer a loan”

“No loan Let me know”

I walk up to the bank teller and deposit the check for the pad and the Porsche Then I pull out twenty grand It doesn’t seeh, but she’ll freak the fuck out She lovesloves o today, and that changed everything

It’s Wednesday night, and I aled into Marisa’s bed, which now has a canopy

“Moht face but fails and falls into yet another giggling fit, and I can’t help laughing with her When she has relaxed, she is looking at the bed in awe She rolls over on her side “You’re nice”

“Well, I’lad you think so, little chick”

“I like you” She rolls onto her back, and her ser “I like you a lot”

“I like you a lot, too”

She yawns, re me it’s forty et this bed together than I expected The directions should have co, i Inaround a little chick’s thumb

“You know”—she yawns again—“I said I didn’t need stories tonight, but the best daddy eva would still read me books”

“Is that so?”

“Uh-huh,” she says

She falls asleep at the end of the second book, face toward the pink canopy I still read four, though Call me competitive, call me dumb, call me someone who keeps a promise, call me Caldwell

I laugh at hts

“Call iving an actual name, a noncommittal response to make a moment seem more than just a fuck It was a naht stand Shit, sometimes when I said “Call me Caldwell,” it was a blow-off

That nao That naacy, that name is family, and that name is mine

I walk out of Marisa’s bedroom and close the door behind me I have a task to complete, and I have only two hours to do it

I grab er to let hier and Hendrix carry in one of the three boxes

“We’ve been waiting an hour to hear frooes smoothly or—”