8
NEW YORK CITY
OCTOBER 20, 2014
Derek left Sunday afternoon to be back at work on Monday morning. Ash’s flight wasn’t until Tuesday morning. He hadn’t said another word about Lila since Friday night, when he’d confessed to what had happened with her. But we both knew that he was staying longer so that he didn’t have to return to reality. After what he’d told me, I hardly blamed him.
Before Derek had left, he’d hugged me and whispered, “Take care of him.”
I’d promised that I would.
Not that I knew how to take care of Ash. He’d been drunk day and night since he had gotten here. Maybe he didn’t even remember telling me about Lila.
“You have work today?” Ash asked the first morning we were alone in my apartment.
“No, I took today off too.”
“Really? Why?”
“You’re here,” I said like i
