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“I’ve been reading that book you and Chris had,” he said.

I pulled my face back. “You did? Which one?”

“The reality show thing.”

I beamed. “Mike…”

“I got, like, seventy pages in. It’s good.”

It wasn’t good, but I appreciated him trying to like the things I liked. I tried to get involved in things he liked, too, but it was a little hard—mostly because I couldn’t go on six-mile runs with him or go mountain biking or any of the other extreme sports he was into. He wanted to train me. I went once, but by the time I was done working for the day I was exhausted and the last thing I wanted to do was go to the gym, but I fully planned on cheering for him on the sidelines at the next race and maybe I could take a bike the next time he did the eleven-mile loop. Pack a little picnic for us or something?

Mike and I didn’t have a lot of overlap in our hobbies. I wondered if he was beginning to notice. Maybe that’s why he picked up the book? Chris and I were reading a fantasy novel right now. Maybe I should tell Mike to read that instead, we could do a book club. Speaking of Chris…

“When is Chris coming?” I asked.

“He had to work,” he said. “Probably later.”

I had a surprise for him that I’d been planning since Mike told me about the party four weeks ago.

“I’m gonna go grab a water,” Mike said. “You want anything?”

“Um, I’ll have a soda.”

I watched him go. He was training for a triathlon so he wasn’t drinking right now. I was silently grateful.

He hadn’t touched a drink since the cabin weekend three and a half weeks ago. He was on a strict high-protein, no-sugar diet and working out constantly, doing the eleven-mile run around the park twice a week. And I was at his house. A lot. Mostly because I couldn’t stand to be at the apartment.

Phil never left. It had been almost a month.

Mom got him to pay rent, so at least there was that, but I hated being home now. He was a permanent fixture in the living room. He didn’t work and was always there. The apartment felt cluttered and dirty, and I still couldn’t get the smoke out of my clothes, even though she never did it again inside.

Becca took the space Mike left. “This is cute,” she said, nodding at my corsage.

I reached up to touch the clip in my hair. “Mike got it for me. He brought my mom flowers too.”

“Is she still seeing that guy?” she asked, eating the cherry off her mai tai.

“Yeah. It’s getting a little serious actually.”

“That fast?”

“Yes,” I muttered.

“Do you think they’ll move in together?” Becca asked.

“They already have,” I said. “With me.”

“Ewwww.” She made a face. “You moving in with Mike, then?”

“No. I don’t want to live in the guesthouse behind Donna’s place.”

“Why not?” she said, talking around her straw. “It’s a nice place.”

I blew a breath through my nose. A couple of reasons? Donna didn’t want Woofarine there for one. Mike let me bring him over anyway because if he didn’t on the days I had him, I wasn’t coming. But every time I did, I felt like she was going to say something.

Donna wasn’t as nice as I thought she was. The more time I spent at Mike’s, the colder she got. It wasn’t any one thing, just the energy that came off her. It wasn’t even enough for me to point out to Mike. I just got the sense she didn’t like me.

Becca and I were friends, but we weren’t close enough that I wanted to get into that with her. I didn’t really trust that she wouldn’t tell Jesse and then Jesse would tell Mike.