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Even when she was angry with me—on the countless occasions she had been, in the short time we’d known each other—her mood hadn’t seemed as off as it did now. It had begun yesterday, when she lied, but that didn’t explain why she was mad at me. It should be the other way around.
“Let me make a call.” I stood and walked into the bedroom, where I saw her belongings were all packed in the bag I’d brought over for her.
“Ali wants to go back to the apartment,” I said when Rock answered. “Any issue with that?”
“None.”
“You’re sure?”
“You want me to invent one?”
I didn’t like the idea of her being over there alone, but that wasn’t the real issue. I wanted her here with me. Even if things were tentative between us, at least I could be near her. And how fucked up was that?
I was sitting on the bed, still staring at my phone after I ended my call with Rock, when I heard her say, “Hey,” from the doorway. I looked up.
“Hey.”
“I’m sorry, Cope. I’m not used to having to rely on someone twenty-four hours a day. I’ve been on my own a really long time.”
“You don’t have to explain.”
She came over and sat beside me. “I feel like I should.” She took a deep breath. “My dad died when I was sixteen. Less than a year later, my mom suffered an aneurysm and died too.”
“That must’ve been really hard on you.”
She looked down at the floor. “It isn’t something I talk about very often.”
“You don’t have to now.”
She got up and went around the end of the bed to the other side. When she stretched out on it, I did the same, as though our lying side by side was the most natural thing in the world.
“My dad was in construction. Mainly commercial. The town I’m from is old, which means when property is renovated, they often find asbestos. They eventually realized it could cause cancer, but that was years after my father began working. He died of lung cancer.”
“I’m sorry, Ali.”
“It was really hard on my mom, as you can imagine. Especially since she had to fight to get the company he’d worked for to pay for his medical expenses. In the end, they settled with her, and she got a large payout from them, not just for the bills, but for wrongful death. It took a lot out of her.”
“You said she had an aneurysm?”
“I was sitting in the kitchen, talking to her. She opened the refrigerator door and then…dropped to the floor.”
I turned on my side so I could look at her; she was staring at the ceiling.
“I don’t know what I would’ve done without Chloe. She was…so supportive.”
“I’m glad you had her in your life.”
She turned her head and looked at me. “You’re a nice guy, Cope.”
I brought my hand to my heart. “Always the nice guy. They finish last, you know.”
Ali looked back up at the ceiling. “I’m not used to being around people.”
“Me either, to tell you the truth.” I couldn’t stand it anymore. I had to ask. “Ali?”
“Yeah?”
“Are you sure you have no idea what someone might’ve been looking for the other night?”
