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It rang again, and he pulled it out to silence it.
“Answer it,” she said.
“No.”
“It might be Joe.” She took a step back and picked up her own phone and started texting.
He sighed, took his phone out of his pocket and looked.Ellen.He glanced at Colleen, who was still tapping away at her phone. “Hey,” he said.
“Hi, Lucas. How are you? How’s Uncle Joe?”
“Holding his own, more or less.”
“Good.” She paused. “So I’m coming to town next week. I think I might have a lead on something for you, divorcewise.”
“Great.”
“Got any idea on where I might stay?”
He looked at Colleen. “I’ll email you some places.” He paused. “You okay to fly?”
“Sure, sure. So okay, I’ll let you know when I’m coming in. It’ll be good to see you.”
“You, too. Thanks for calling.”
He hung up. Looked at Colleen. Her face was neutral.
“The wife?” she asked, though it was obvious she knew who it was.
“The ex-wife.”
She nodded. “So. Back to what I was saying. Thank you for driving me home. But we shouldn’t...get involved. Even if you’re very gorgeous and so am I and all that.”
“I think we should talk, Colleen,” he said.
“Faith will be here any minute. Pajama party. Girls only, I’m afraid.”
“Colleen—”
“Lucas, you have a life back in Chicago. I have one here. It’s just stupid to get all tangled up. I...I can’t do that. I only have flings. Since you, I haven’t had a real boyfriend. Just flings. And that’s fine. I like it that way. I’m kind of a slut, in fact.”
He remembered her kissing that other guy, and the long-ago memory still ached, like a bruise that had faded but not quite healed. “I doubt that,” he said.
“Well, read the bathroom walls, then.” She swallowed, and shifted her gaze to outside the window. “But I don’t think I could have a fling with you.”
“Mía,don’t—”
“No, please. I mean, as irresistible as you are, I’d get hurt, you’d leave, I’d hate you again, and I don’t hate you now, and I’d rather not hate you ever again. Okay?”
The door to the apartment opened, and in bounded a golden retriever. “Did someone call a landscape architect and her faithful puppy?” Faith said. She came into the living room, cradling four pints of Ben & Jerry’s in her arms. “Oh. Hey, Lucas.”
“Faith.”
She looked back and forth between them. “Um...want me to go?”
“No,” Colleen answered. “He was just leaving.” She turned to Lucas. “Thank you very much for staying with me. See you around.”
She was right. He’d be leaving again. Soon. Whatever he found himself thinking whenever he was around her was just that. Thought. She was being the smart one here, and he should be grateful.
