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actually.”
    “So I’m right to worry?”
    “I didn’t say that,” she said. “I only said I see your point, and . . . I might feel the same way, were I in your position.”
    Great. You know, sometimes solidarity wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. “What do you think I should do?”
    The two of us were silent, contemplating the possibilities. Conjuring possibilities. Any possibilities.
    Any at all.
    “Well,” Steff said with a little hesitation in her voice, “there is always your mom and dad as a last resort?”
    Eek. Banish the thought! My mother would love only too much to have me come crawling back home after turning my nose up at the offer a month ago. “Could we save that option for the last possible of all possible fallback plans?”
    And because she was my best friend, I didn’t even have to explain. “Forget I mentioned it.”
    Any possibilities at all . . .
    Another thought struck me, just then. “You’re not going to be living upstairs anymore.”
    “Oh.” Steff’s voice was extra quiet. “No, I’m not.”
    This was, truly, the end of an epoch.
    And then, contemplatively, “You’re not going to be living upstairs anymore . . .”
    “Yes, we’ve already established that, Mags.”
    “No,” I said, getting excited, “what I mean is . . . this is the end of an era.”
    “That’s right. Just poke that arrow in farther and turn it a little harder to the left there. Sheesh.”
    I laughed. “No, what I mean is, maybe, just maybe, it’s time for me to embrace change. Not fight it.”
    “Do explain.”
    “Well. Instead of looking at this as a problem, maybe I should be looking at it as a good time to make some other changes in my life as well. Like . . . maybe moving into a new apartment. One that isn’t in a basement. Maybe you moving out is actually a cosmic sign that I need to pay attention to.”
    “I . . . well, I guess you could look at it that way, sure.”
    “I mean it,” I said, seriously warming up to the idea. “It’s not like I have a lease to worry about, since our landlord is old school. Maybe I should be looking at this as the opportunity it is to get out there and look. Think about it. A different apartment, one without stairs, would mean I could at least take care of myself for the most part. Without a keeper. Well, except for getting back and forth to work. That might take a little thinking.” Hm. “And maybe this is just the kick start I need. I mean, looking back at my life, it’s only in the last year that I’ve been digging myself out of the rut that was my life. Maybe this is meant to be. Fate. Kismet.”
    Steff laughed. “Well, I’ll let you get back to that, Kismet Girl. I’m actually supposed to be getting ready for work, so I’ll talk to you lataaaah .”
    Kismet Girl. I liked that. Kind of like Wonder Woman, except without the unforgiving costume.
    Energized into action by the possibilities I sensed opening up in front of me, the first thing I did upon hanging up was clump around the counter to where my laptop was resting, opened and logged in, next to the cash register. The two customers who had been milling around had just left without a purchase, so I was free and clear until the brass bells on the front door rang again to alert me to our next customer of the day. I pulled up the local Craigslist site to search for all apartment rentals. The list was, I must say, a disappointment. Granted, Stony Mill was a small town and limited in rental properties, but I had been hopeful to find more than the paltry few entries the search pulled up. None of which suited my needs. Darn. I even searched on homes for rent, knowing before the search yielded results that the two homes that appeared in ad form would be priced way out of my league. Nothing. Nothing affordable, that is. And then, just in case someone had gone old school, I dug yesterday’s newspaper classified section out of the recycling bin and spread it out wide to catch the light. It was the same