CHAPTER 11
TREY
Three weeks later, Paula had a drawer.
Trey discovered this because he opened the second drawer of his dresser and found three bras, two T-shirts, a silk scarf, leggings, underwear and a charger he did not own.
He stood there.
Paula walked out of the bathroom brushing her teeth.
“What?”
Trey pointed.
Trey's office after hours was a different place from the one students knew.
The hallway quieted. The old radiator clicked.
Books that looked imposing during daylight became shadows along the wall.
Paula sat across from him with one heel slipped off, reading something on her phone, and the sight was so ordinary that it caught him harder than spectacle ever had.
Years earlier, this room had represented a boundary.
Now she could sit there as his equal and complain that his chair was uncomfortable.
She looked.
“Oh.”
“Oh?”
“I needed space.”
“You established residency.”
She spoke around the toothbrush. “Relax.”
Trey laughed.
The drawer pleased him far more than it should have.
He did not say that.
That evening Anthony hosted dinner at his townhouse.
This time Danielle came, giving Anthony and Danielle their first real chance to meet instead of existing as names in other people’s conversations.
Paula had invited her.
Anthony opened the door, saw Danielle, and forgot whatever sentence he had prepared.
Trey noticed.
So did Paula.
Danielle did not.
Or pretended not to.
“Anthony,” Trey said.
Anthony blinked. “Right. Come in.”
Paula looked up at Trey.
He looked down at her.
Neither spoke.
Future trouble.
Dinner became loud.
Danielle and Anthony argued about whether luxury development could ever be socially responsible.
Anthony leaned forward.
“You can build beautifully without displacing people.”
Danielle said, “Developers say that while displacing people beautifully.”
Paula nearly spit out her wine.
Trey watched Anthony smile.
Interesting.
Later, while Anthony was in the kitchen, Paula whispered, “Do not.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“Your face did.”
“You have a face too.”
“No matchmaking.”
“Agreed.”
They shook on it.
Across the room Danielle yelled, “Why are y’all shaking hands?”
“Nothing,” Paula said.
Anthony returned with dessert.
“Who wants pie?”
Danielle: “What kind?”
Anthony: “Sweet potato.”
Danielle: “You made it?”
Anthony looked offended. “I contain multitudes.”
Paula leaned into Trey.
“Oh, this is going to be fun.”
He murmured, “No matchmaking.”
“I said nothing.”
Her smile said everything.