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“No, everyone already knows how awful they are,” I said sadly. “I don’t think they have any shame left.”

We moved on to other topics, like how delicious our pasta was, and it was only as we were walking quickly back to the Milaflores Building that he brought up my mom and her ex. “That weirdo doesn’t have a key to your apartment, does he?”

Despite the freezing temperature, I slowed down, hesitating. “No, but he was around my key. I mean, I left it out sometimes when he was there and if he was thinking ahead, he could have made a copy. But he didn’t have much trouble getting into that wall safe, so I don’t think a door would slow him down anyway.”

“I really don’t like this, Kat. I heard your mom say that he had probably been in prison.”

I nodded. “That’s bad, but it was the thing about how he didn’t speak that scared me.”

“There was plenty of strange shit going on with that guy.”

“When I was trying to convince him to take a shower, he was staring at the water coming out. I asked him if he heard any music and maybe he did. I didn’t want him to,” I mentioned.

“Why?” He seemed confused. “Wouldn’t it be better if other people could hear it? Then we would know that it’s not some type of psychological problem limited to us.”

“I don’t think it is a problem and I don’t mind that we’re the only ones. I mean…”

“You think it’s special so you want it to be distinctive,” Oliver interpreted.

No, that wasn’t what I had meant. I kind of liked the idea that we were grouped together, like a couple. “Right,” I agreed, and picked up the pace again.

“I’ll walk you up to your apartment,” he said. “I’m sure everything is fine but it would give me more peace of mind. Ok?”

I nodded and we continued toward the building. It was slippery, so he reached over and took my hand to tuck into his elbow. He was nice and warm, which I could feel even through my layers and his.

It didn’t seem like anything was wrong when we went into the Milaflores Building. The lobby was just as chilly as ever since Mrs. McGlothen was controlling the heat for all of us (and, apparently, enjoyed seeing her breath indoors). He held open the door so that we could take the stairs.

“You have nice manners,” I pointed out.

“I hope so. I had my mom and dad telling me how to behave often enough that I really should have picked it up.” He held the door at the first floor for me, too.

“You always go on the outside of the sidewalk,” I continued. “You must do it on purpose. Even the first time that we ran together, when I was trying to race you back to our building, you got on the outside, closest to the road.”

He didn’t answer because was frowning at something. “Your front door is open.”

It wasn’t fully open, but it wasn’t closed all the way. “Oh, no,” I whispered. “Maël-Michael may be back!”

“Let me go first.”

I didn’t think that was very fair, since this was my problem, but Oliver maneuvered me behind his back as he pushed on the door. It swung quietly and we both listened, but I didn’t hear anything at all.

“Hello?” he called. “Journey? Are you there?”

If my mom was in the house, she might have been asleep or practicing shavasana again, because there was no response. We entered slowly and he flicked on the lights. My first thought was that everything was fine, because it still looked as clean as it had when I had left. But then I noticed the Christmas tree.

I noticed that there was no Christmas tree.

“What the heck?” I asked in a normal voice, pointing to the blank space on the floor. “Someone took my tree!”

“Holy Moses. Stay behind me.”

We kept walking through the rest of the apartment. It was empty, both of people and of…

“Damn! My clothes!” I said as I looked in the closet. “The nice jackets you gave me are gone!” So were the new things that I had gotten when Carmen and Vera had suggested that my wardrobe needed to improve. “Oh, I hope…” I ran into the bathroom and yanked back the shower curtain.

“Your laptop is in the tub? What’s that box?” he asked.

“It has all my important papers, like my social security card and my passport,” I said, reaching to pick up the files and my computer. I hugged them to my chest.