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“Tell me about it,” I offer, lowering into the chair close to hers.
She doesn’t look at me, just keeps her attention on the window. “It’s hard out there.” She juts her chin toward the window. We can’t see the street from where we sit. Just a swirling white. “Before coming to New York, when I still lived in my tiny Colorado town, I’d been bright eyed and hopeful. I dreamed of New York as though it were touched constantly by glitter dust and the sparkle of dreams. Then I got here. There was no glitter to be found and the dreams—they didn’t sparkle. Instead, they left a taste on my tongue—in the back of my throat. Something acrid and filled with desperation.” She pauses, whispers, “So much desperation.”
I hate that that was her experience. I hate that she came here at all, so unprepared for the realities of thiscity that eats the flesh from the bones of so many, devouring souls.
She speaks again, “You saved me from it all, you know? From this city ruining me like it’s ruined so many others.”
“It wouldn’t have ruined you.”
She finally turns to look at me. “It would.”
“No, Kitten, it wouldn’t. You’ve got claws and teeth, remember.”
“Cash.” She rolls glistening eyes on a huff that has me leaning forward in my chair, invading her space.
“I’m serious, Wrenlee. You would have been one of the ones who came out on top. There are a lot of people who ride the grind of this city and come out on top.”
“There are a lot of people who don’t survive this place.”
It’s ruthless, but I shrug. “There are a lot of people who don’t survive in general. You need fight to get through life.”
She watches me for a long moment, her lips twisted to the side in thought. “Have you ever struggled, Cash?”
“No. Not the way you’re thinking.” My struggles are different. They don’t revolve around money. But I struggled. I just don’t tell her that.
She nods, casting her eyes to the window again. “You’re blessed.”
I am. I can’t disagree with her. But I also don’t like her thinking she’s only alive, only thriving because of me. She’s powerful. She’s intelligent and captivating and determined. She would have made it without me. Maybe not happily, but she would have clawed her way out of the hole.
The sound of her phone ringing on the countertop has me standing and moving to it. It’s early for someone to be calling her on a Saturday.
“It’s your dad.” I bring the phone to the table, setting it on top.
“I’ll call him later.” She doesn’t look at the screen, but her cheeks flare.
“You gonna tell him I’m your man now?”
The red in those cheeks only flares hotter. “I’ll get to it.”
“Kitten.”
“He’s my dad, Cash.” She covers her face with the hand not holding her coffee. “He still thinks of me as his little girl. Hejustfound out I’m living with a man.”
I make the decision before the ringing can stop. Before I have a chance to talk myself out of it. Swiping the phone, I answer, “Wrenlee’s phone.”
My eyes are fixed on her, so I see when her jaw unhinges. I almost laugh, but the pause on the other end of the line is heavy.
Wrenlee mouths, “Cash!” under her breath.
A man’s deep, smooth voice sounds over the line. “You must be the roommate.”
“I’m also the boyfriend. Cash. It’s good to meet you Mr. Wilson.”
“Keith,” he says slowly, gruffly. The man is processing. “You can call me Keith.”
“Keith,” I repeat. “Good to meet you.”
“The boyfriend, huh?”
