“Well, I better go,” I said, as he picked up his cards again. “I’ll see you later, okay?”

He nodded. “Okay.”

I walked to the door, pulling out my phone and making a note on the memo app to ask around about sitters. As I did so, I realized that ever since the Last Chance, I’d been burdening myself with more than was necessary. A breakfast sandwich, agreeing to being the bridge between Clyde and Theo, a kiss without demarcation, my father’s child-care crisis. No wonder I felt so weighted down. On the flip side, it wasn’t like one additional thing was going to make much of a difference.

“Hey,” I called out to Benji. “Want to ride along?”

He looked up at me, his face hopeful. “Really?”

“If your dad says it’s okay.”

“He won’t care,” he said, abandoning the cards and literally running over to me, as if at any moment I might rescind the offer. “He probably won’t even notice.”

“Go ask him anyway.”

I stood there, watching, as he ran up the stairs, taking them two at a time. On the landing, he cupped a hand to his mouth and yelled towards the bedroom, “I’m leaving! With Emaline!”

“What?” came my father’s voice, muffled by the door.

“I’m leaving!” Benji repeated.

“What?”

“I’m leaving! Back later!”

The response to this—if there even was one—was lost in the din of him bounding back down the steps towards me. I figured if it wasn’t okay, my father would emerge, but after a beat, it was still just us.

“All right,” I said. “Guess it’s a go.”

“Awesome!” Benji hollered, pushing past me out the door and running down the front walk. He was so excited, even though he, like Morris, had no idea where we were going. I shut the door behind me, then followed him at a more subdued pace, wondering if my father was watching us from his window upstairs. All the way to the car I thought about turning back to look, but in the end, I decided against it.

*   *   *

“Wait a second.” Daisy turned around, the wax applicator in one hand. “You did what?”

I glanced at the older woman on the table in front of her, who was lying flat on her back, purse in her lap, her hands folded over it. I’d only come back to the waxing room to let Daisy know I was outside waiting. Sharing my personal life in earshot of a stranger with a hair management problem was another thing entirely. “I’ll just be outside, okay?”

“Why?”

I nodded towards the woman on the table. “You’re kind of, um, busy?”

“Oh, Jean? Don’t worry, she’s really hard of hearing.” She blew on the wax for a second, then leaned close to the woman’s ear. “I’m going to start now, okay? Are you ready?”

The woman opened her eyes, blinked, then cupped her hand behind one ear, looking confused. Daisy held up the applicator. She nodded, smiled, then closed her eyes again.

“Okay.” She bent down, carefully smoothing wax under the woman’s already thin brow. “Now go back to the beginning. Because either I’m going deaf, too, or you just said something totally crackers.”

Crackers, I thought. That was one word for it. “Well,” I said, as she picked up a piece of muslin from the shelf beside her and carefully pressed it down on the wax, “Luke and I broke up this morning. And then I kissed someone else at Big Club.”

She ripped off the paper, one quick stroke. On the table, Jean winced, but kept her eyes closed. “And this kiss, was it with someone you know, or just a random person?”

“It was Theo,” I said.

I watched her dip into the wax again. “You kissed a guy you just met in Big Club?”

“We were buying a toaster oven,” I said, like this explained everything.

She turned to look at me, blowing on the wax, her expression incredulous. “Are you serious?”

“It just kind of happened.”

“Which part? Breaking up with your boyfriend of three years, or making out with someone else you barely know moments later?”

“It was not moments,” I pointed out as she started on the other eyebrow. “There was at least a couple of hours in between.”

“Oh, well, in that case,” she said sarcastically.

There was a knock at the door of the waxing room. Before we could even ask who was there, Mrs. Ye was sticking her head in, looking at me. “You bring boy here?”

“What?”

“Little boy outside. He with you?”

“Oh,” I said, suddenly remembering I’d left Benji up front, examining the array of polishes. “Yes. He’s my brother.”

Mrs. Ye nodded, then shut the door again without further comment. To Daisy, who was looking at me with a quizzical expression, I explained, “I’m sort of helping my father out. He’s swamped with stuff right now.”

She leaned over Jean’s face, and started plucking, a series of quick little stabs. “Helping how?”

“Just entertaining Benji until we can find someone else to do it.”

“Okay, wait a second,” she said, holding up her free hand. The plucking continued with the other, at a quick speed. “So what you’re saying is that since I saw you yesterday, you broke up with Luke, kissed Theo, and offered to help out your deadbeat, undeserving father.”