What would it take for you to move into my house?
My head nearly came right off. I readjusted the bolts on my neck and ignored him because I wasn't at all certain I'd heard him correctly. I carried on as if he hadn't said a damn thing.
You really should examine your relationship with your parents. I mean, there's loads going on there. Your withholding shit seems pretty angry, if you ask me.
Okay, but that's not what I'm asking you.
Where's this coming from? Seriously, you're making me nervous. I don't want to go there until I'm really sure you're going there.
Mel, I'm going there. We should do this. What would it take?
I definitely wasn't ready for this and had to think...fast. I took a breath to calm down. And another, and another, followed by a swallow.
Well, I guess making some physical changes. Expanding the house, painting it...stuff like that, to create a space that would be ours. Otherwise you might feel invaded and I wouldn't want that.
I stared out the passenger window. I studied a carpet store bright in primary colors, and next to it a seedy bar in faded pastels. I wondered who was buying carpet, and who was drinking tequila shots. There was life outside this car, and there was life inside this car. Which did I want?
Okay, he said. What if I gave you a chunk of money to renovate? You could do whatever you wanted to the house. Expand it, paint it, whatever — as long as you stayed on budget. You'd be the director and I'd be the producer. I wouldn't want to see paint chips. I wouldn't care what you did. What do you think?
I squinted and tried not to scream. I'd been chosen...cast, if you will. The part was mine, and it was the leading role. My resignation to single life disappeared as easily as cotton candy melting on my tongue.
Well, I answered, in a tone cool and sophisticated, that...should...work. There's just one more thing. One tiny thing.
What's that?
We were lit by intermittent by street lamps. On...off...light...dark...on...off.
Within two years of our living together, I would want us to get married. If that doesn't seem possible for you, then we should shelve the idea.
On...off...light...dark...on...off.
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