The Cost of Almost
Something closer to fear.
I texted back four words. Where and when.
She replied within a minute. Coffee shop on 5th and 82nd. One hour.
The shop was small and overpriced in the specific way of Upper East Side establishments that existed mostly to be seen in, all reclaimed wood and brass fixtures, and Vivian was already seated when I arrived — no entourage, no audience, none of the performance I’d watched her deploy at every previous encounter. She looked, for the first time since she’d returned to New York, genuinely tired.