“You work a lot, Ev. You know that,” Natalie said, pushing her food around with a fork and not meeting his eye. “Forget it. I shouldn’t have said anything.”
“I work a perfectly normal amount.”
Natalie tilted her head, as if weighing whether she should keep going. “Your work tends to consume you. It’s like the rest of the world falls away and you’re on a different planet.”
Everett nodded; that was what he liked about work. “I don’t see why that’s a problem.”
“It’s not a problem,” Natalie said. “Most of the time. But sometimes you can forget about people, even if you care about them. Remember the surprise party you threw for my birthday last year?”
“Of course.”
“That was so thoughtful and well planned,” Natalie said. “You even got my mom there, and that lady hates to leave her house. I was truly surprised, and I felt so loved, and that was classic Ev.”
“Right,” Everett said. “That was a good party!”
“But . . . you were also an hour late,” Natalie said. “To the party you organized.”
Beside her, Lillian winced. Everett shot her a betrayed look, and she mouthed, Sorry.
“I didn’t think you noticed that,” Everett muttered. “I was tied up with something. It’s hard to turn work off, you know?”
Natalie nodded. “I know, dude. But sometimes the people in your life need you to turn it off. Unless you want to be one of those eccentric geniuses who’s been divorced fifteen times and lives in a giant mansion full of regret.”
Everett shook his head. His parents had gotten married when they were in college, and they’d stayed married for over thirty years. That was what he wanted: to do it once and get it right and know that the person he was with was the perfect fit. To build a family full of creativity and weirdness and obsession, to have a house full of fun and memories and tattered old furniture. He didn’t know why he couldn’t skip all the in-between stuff and get there. It would be so much easier to focus on work that way.
“I’m not going to live in a regret mansion,” he said. “And I’m sorry about your party.”
“You should be sorry you missed it,” Lillian said. “Natalie’s mom got sooo drunk.”
“No, I was there in plenty of time to see Jill wasted,” Everett said. “She was hilarious.”
“Ugh,” Natalie said. “Don’t remind me again how much moms love you. I’m pretty sure mine has a crush on you and I don’t want to think about it.”
“I don’t know,” Everett said, pretending to contemplate it. “Jill’s a confident, independent woman. I appreciate that.”
“Ew, stop!”
Everett’s eyes lit up. “I could be your stepdad!”
“EVERETT!” Natalie shouted as Lillian dissolved in laughter.
As Everett laughed, he pushed down the tiny stinging feeling that Natalie might be right. Maybe it was bad to spend so much time focused on work, even though it was often one of the few things in life that felt absolutely, perfectly, 100 percent right.
But now, he thought as he smiled to himself, he had something else that felt 100 percent right. He had Teddy.
41
Dear Teddy,
Just a quick note to say that, after much contemplation, I decided to print out your portrait of Shaq and hang it in my office (which is also a storage room).
Please see photo attached.
Gazing adoringly at Shaq,
Everett
Dear Everett,
Thank you for supporting my art, although seeing it hung up on a wall really highlights the . . . shall we say, imperfections of the piece? I hope that Shaq himself never sees it or that, if he does, he isn’t offended by a very lumpy depiction of his head.
And I have to ask . . . since you’re in this picture, who’s taking it?
Officially an artist,
Teddy
Dear Teddy,
I asked my producer, Astrid, to take it. I’m not saying she fully understood what she was doing, but she went along with it.
Have you thought about turning this into a series? Maybe including other basketball greats? Jordan, Kobe, LeBron? I think it would make a great exhibition.
Your new agent,
Everett
Dear Everett,
Only if that exhibition remains in the dark supply closet you call an office.
I didn’t think it was possible for me to be more embarrassed than I was when I sent you that picture, but it turns out I can be! Knowing that your producer also saw it is mortifying.
But I suppose I can be convinced to create more paintings if the price is right.
A total sellout,
Teddy
Dear Teddy,
What are you doing tomorrow afternoon? It’s the perfect time to go to the zoo. Kids are in school, it’s cold so no one else wants to be there, and you get a front-row seat to see the Mexican wolves running around.
Don’t leave the wolves and me hanging,
Everett
Dear Everett,
Well, I wouldn’t want to disappoint the wolves. They do need the company.
See you tomorrow,
Teddy
42
Teddy ended up having a wonderful afternoon at the zoo with Everett. They had the place to themselves, and it turned out that the reptile house was a surprisingly romantic spot for a make-out session (it was probably the dim lighting and the sense of contained danger created by all the snakes behind glass).
It was a relatively quick date, though, because Teddy had dinner plans with Josie that evening. Josie lived in a beautiful old house in German Village, one that was small but full of windows and surrounded by lush gardens, which of course were all dead in the fall. When Teddy let herself in, Josie’s three dogs bounded toward her. She’d stopped ringing the doorbell when Josie claimed it excited them, but Teddy didn’t really see the difference—either way they jumped all over her.
Not that she minded. “Oh, hi, Ralph,” she said, scratching the black-and-white mutt under his chin. Three tails thumped a comforting rhythm on the hardwood floor. “Maybe I need a dog.”
“Most people do,” Josie said, handing Teddy a glass of red wine. “But why stop at one when you can have three? That’s my motto.”