take a long time to heal, and some of them never go away.
I pull up to Adley’s apartment building. It’s grey with
black balconies. Obviously not new, but the place did get a
fresh coat of paint recently. For some reason, I think the
building must have been a salmon pink before. I doubt that’s
the case, but I just have this feeling. Tons of places are salmon
pink. This is Phoenix. It seems to be everyone’s color of
choice.
I park along the street. It’s free parking and there aren’t
any weird zones where I have to pay online or anything. The
neighborhood seems pretty low key. It took me nearly an hour
to get here from my place, which I figured in when I thought
I’d have to leave by six to get here for seven, and traffic was
fairly light for a change. The area is mostly rentals,
apartments, and older houses that are pretty small. I never saw
any rundown places though. Everyone seems to take real pride
in them. It’s not a sketchy area at all, just more of a
neighborhood where new families or singles can afford to buy
or rent.
When I buzz Adley’s apartment number on the ancient
beige button, the door clicks open immediately. I head to the
second floor and she’s the third door in. When I’d picked her
up for our first date she had come out to the car, so it’s really
my first time there. I knock and a minute later, Tildy pulls it
open.
“Hi!” She smiles broadly at me. She’s adorable in pig
tails and a red and black sparkly dress. She looks like she
could be going to a wedding. “Do you like my new dress?”
She twirls around, and then sticks out a red sparkly ballet flat
for me to inspect. “I got new shoes too! Mom said I shouldn’t