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“I say we hit the Spider-Man movie. There’s nothing at that club for us—” Nalla stopped as she pivoted around. “Why are you putting your coat on?”
“I’m going to leave.”
“You just got here.”
“I’ll see you tomorrow on shift—”
“Bitty.” Nalla put her palms forward, all hold-up. “Wait, you’re offended? Seriously.”
“I’m not sure what to say to that.”
The other female’s eyes roamed around the photographs of nature scenes that Nalla had hung on the walls: A waterfall in the rain forest. An island in the Pacific. A beach in Spain with the sun at the horizon.
Bitty shook her head. “I just know I’m not happy and I am going to do something about it.”
“Does this have to do with L.W.?”
That stare whipped over faster than a gunshot. “God, no. Why would you say that?”
Well, reasons. “Fine, since when are you not happy?”
“Awhile now.”
Nalla nodded at the phone held so tightly in her friend’s hand. “When did you start listening to that woman?”
“You think because I’m interested in waking up within my own life, I’m getting corrupted by her or something?”
“This is just really out of nowhere. You love your job at Safe Place, working with the residents—”
“This isn’t about what I do, it’s about who I am.” She motioned around the room. “This can’t be all there is to life. I highly recommend you listen to her—”
“I amnotabout to be preached at by the interpersonal equivalent of an MLM, who’s packaged like a savior. I’ll take the real thing, not the marketing gimmick, thank you very much.”
Bitty looked away. Looked back. “No, you’re just going to keep being angry at your father, and stay here all night, stewing in frustration and staring at pictures you lifted off the Internet of places you will never go.”
Nalla felt her mouth fall open. “I’m sorry, what did you just say.”
“You can’t have it both ways. Either you’re not meeting someone because the great Zsadist will fucking kill anybody who dates you, or you’re too scared to put yourself out there and try to make a life with a partner of your own. But if the latter’s where it’s at, don’t talk to me anymore about how you’re on lockdown and you hate it, and don’t belittle me for trying to do something for myself.”
“I donotneed a male, thank you very much. And if I did, the kind of mate I would want wouldn’t be hanging out down at Bathe with that bunch of hard-drinking assholes.”
“They’re more than that—”
Nalla pointed to the phone. “Is this what evolving means? You contort yourself and take up alcohol so you can find a mate? Great message—and you have to pay for it, I’m sure. If you want to rethink anything in your life, it’s what you’re watching on that fucking screen.”
Bitty shook her head. “The fact that you’re reducing and closingmind to the group of males and females you and I grew up with shows how muchyouneed help.”
Reducing? Closing mind to…“What the hell has that guru put in your head?”
Bitty zipped up her parka. “Like I said, if you’re choosing this isolation, fine. I’m just not buying into the idea that martyrdom to your dad’s shadow ban on dating is superior to any other form of delusion. At least I’m prepared to leave the house.”
As the door banged shut, Nalla glanced around at the pictures that had always made her so happy.
“What just happened here?”
CHAPTER FOUR
Thirty-three years,” the great Blind King said softly. “Thirty-three fucking years…”
