Semi-Sweet Read Online Free PDF

“And I’m
     sorry, but I have no sympathy with your being broke when you still haven’t put that ad in.”
    When Hannah said nothing, he added, “You haven’t, have you?”
    She reached for the remote and flicked on the TV and watched a herd of elephants thundering across some wide open space. “Stop
     nagging.”
    Adam took the remote from her and pressed the “mute” button. “Who’s nagging? I haven’t mentioned it in two whole days. When
     are you going to do it?”
    She shook her head miserably. “I don’t know—next week, maybe.”
    Too soon, too painful. “Person wanted to share house” meant accepting that Patrick was definitely gone, like bundling a dead
     person’s clothes into black plastic bags for the charity shop. Like taking people’s names off the company roster when they
     found other jobs. Six days without him felt like six years, even if he had been a bastard, but still it was much too soon
     for a new housemate.
    There was a short silence. Adam stretched his arms above his head. They watched a man in a safari suit mouthing silently into
     the microphone he held, but Hannah’s thoughts were miles away.
    She’d lost count of the times she’d found Patrick’s name in her phone and almost pressed “call.” Who is she? she wanted to demand. When did you meet her? How long was it going on? How dare you do this to me?
    But when she was lying alone in the middle of the night, the silent questions changed: When are you coming back? Don’t you know I’ll forgive you? Can’t we try again?
    “I suppose,” she said sadly, “I’ll survive. At least I’ll be too busy to mope.” She reached for her scarf. “I’d better be
     off. I’m trying to get to bed early these nights, so the new schedule won’t be too much of a shock. You don’t have to come,”
     she added as Adam took his feet off the coffee table and reached for the leather jacket that was slung across the arm of the
     couch.
    “Right—and when you’re mugged, your father won’t string me up for letting you walk home alone.” He shepherded her toward the
     door.
    “Come on, Kirby,” he said, and the black Labrador lying in front of the fire raised his head and looked at him. “Come on,”
     Adam repeated, and Kirby hauled himself to his feet and plodded after them.
    The evening was clear, stars studding the sky. Hannah tucked her arm into Adam’s as they walked the streets toward her house,
     Kirby padding along behind. Anyone looking at them would think lovers, or at least boyfriend and girlfriend—a couple of some
     kind anyway. It had taken Patrick, and most of Hannah’s other boyfriends, quite a while to feel comfortable with her having
     a male best friend.
    “You know what’s just occurred to me?” Adam asked as they walked.
    “What?”
    “Today’s the eleventh, so you’re opening on the thirteenth, right?”
    “Mm-hmm.”
    “And my birthday’s on the thirteenth of August.”
    She looked at him. “So?”
    “So it’s exactly seven months from the day you open.”
    “And your point is?”
    “My birthday,” he said, “can be your deadline. Whatever happens in the meantime, give yourself at least seven months to make
     a success of it.”
    “Even if I go broke in the first week?”
    “Yes. Even if you have to sell your house to keep it going.”
    She stopped dead and looked at him in horror. “Sell my house? You’re kidding, aren’t you?”
    “Of course I am.” He nudged her along. “I just think it would be good if you had that date as your watershed.”
    “My watershed?”
    “You know what I mean. The date that you can finally say, ‘I’ve made it.’ The date that you renew your lease for another decade.”
    She laughed. “Actually, the lease is for a year, and it’s not up till December.”
    “Forget the lease, then—you know what I mean. You agree not to give up before my birthday? Promise?”
    “I…suppose so.” She hesitated, then caught his eye and added, “I mean yes,