Clare sent emails with subject lines like “Revised Scope Notes—Please Actually Read.”
I answered anyway.
“If the Riverside permit office burned down,” I said, “I have an alibi.”
“Are you busy?”
“No. I’m deeply committed to wasting a federal holiday.”
“Good. I need you.”
I muted the TV.
“That sentence just made my rent go up.”
“I need you to come with me to my family’s barbecue.”
I looked around my apartment, in case another Ethan had entered and this request was for him.
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