Page 37 of The Arrangement

She laughs softly, gazing off into the distance.

I don’t know her well enough to discuss her life and feel awkward getting so personal. But something tells me she needs to talk about it. And I’m already here.

“It sounds like you enjoyed yourself,” I say.

“Oh, I did.” Her gaze pulls to mine. “Do you have a girlfriend?”

She watches me intently, pinning me to the sofa.

I begin changing the subject, but her mouth presses into a tight line.

Okay, then. I take a deep breath. “No.”

“A boyfriend?”

I catch a laugh before it escapes my throat. “Um, no.”

“Why not?”

“Well, I am a heterosexual.”

She chuckles. “Good to know. But why don’t you have a girlfriend?”

I’m knocked sideways by this line of questioning. I definitely didn’t see it happening today, let alone from her. But the question is direct and matter-of-fact, and Mimi clearly expects an answer. I’m not about to disrespect her by evading it.

“I don’t date,” I say, going with an easy excuse. “I don’t have a lot of free time.”

She smiles to herself. “That’s a lie, but I won’t press you on it.”

“What do you mean I’m lying? You just met me ten minutes ago,” I say, amused.

“Honey, I didn’t get to be my age and not learn anything about people. A man like you? Everything you do is intentional. Am I right?”

I don’t know what to say, but I feel it’s a rhetorical question, anyway.

“So let me ask you this,” she says. “If everything you do is intentional, why are you really here?”

The room stills, and her question hangs in the air. It’s like a grenade spiraling toward the ground, ready to explode on impact.

“I talked to Chloe last night,” I say, my voice low. “I heard a man yelling, and she sounded upset.”

Mimi’s expression darkens.

“And she mentioned you’d fallen yesterday,” I add. “When she didn’t answer me this morning, I had a bad feeling. I guess I just wanted to know what was going on—that you both were okay.”

“Why did you care?”

The smugness in her tone pulls at the corners of my mouth.

“I’m nosy,” I say, grinning.

“Curiosity can do more than kill a cat, you know.” She leans back again. “I think you’re a good man, Jason. So I will tell you something, but you can’t tell Chloe.”

I flinch.

I didn’t come here to get in the middle of family secrets. God knows my family has enough of them for the whole city. But despite my hesitation, I also can’t get up and leave. I’m rooted on this sofa, at Mimi’s mercy.

“Chloe has the best heart of any person in the world,” she says. Her words are somber but tinged with an unmistakable tenderness. “She’s stronger than I ever was.”