Fangirl

of the espresso machine.
    “What are you doing tonight?” he asked. “You should come over. I think we’re gonna have a bonfire. Reagan’s coming.”
    “I’m going home,” Cath said. “Omaha.”
    “Yeah?” Levi smiled up at her. The machine made a hissing noise. “I bet your parents are happy about that.”
    Cath shrugged again. Levi heaped whipped cream onto her drink. His hands were long—and thicker than the rest of him, a little knobby, with short, square nails.
    “Have a great weekend,” he said, handing her the drink.
    “I haven’t paid yet.”
    Levi held up his hands. “Please. You insult me.”
    “What is this?” She leaned over the cup and took a breath.
    “My own concoction—Pumpkin Mocha Breve, light on the mocha. Don’t try to order it from anyone else; it’ll never turn out the same.”
    “Thanks,” Cath said.
    He grinned at her again. And she took a step backwards into a shelf full of mugs. “Bye,” she said.
    Levi moved on to the next person, smiling as wide as ever.
    *   *   *
    Cath’s ride was a girl named Erin who’d put a sign up in the floor bathroom about splitting gas back to Omaha. All she talked about was her boyfriend who still lived in Omaha and who was probably cheating on her. Cath couldn’t wait to get home.
    She felt a surge of optimism as she ran up the steps to her house. Somebody had raked the leaves—people who stayed up all night making mountains out of mashed potatoes rarely had the presence of mind for leaf raking.
    Not that her dad would actually do that, the mashed potato thing. That wasn’t his style at all.
    A fireman’s pole to the attic. Spur-of-the-moment road trips. Staying up for three nights because he discovered Battlestar Galactica on Netflix … That was the MO to his madness.
    “Dad?”
    The house was dark. He should be home by now—he said he would come home early.
    “Cath!” He was in the kitchen. She ran forward to hug him. He hugged her back like he needed it. When she pulled away, he smiled at her. Sight-for-sore-eyes and everything.
    “It’s dark in here,” she said.
    Her dad looked around the room like he’d just got there. “You’re right.” He walked around the main floor, flipping on lights. When he started on the lamps, Cath switched them off behind him. “I was just working on something…,” he said.
    “For work?”
    “For work,” he agreed, absentmindedly turning on a lamp she’d just switched off. “How do you feel about Gravioli?”
    “I like it. Is that what we’re having for dinner?”
    “No, that’s the client I’m on.”
    “You guys got Gravioli?”
    “Not yet. It’s a pitch. How do you feel about it?”
    “About Gravioli.”
    “Yeah…” He tapped the middle fingers of his left hand against his palm.
    “I like the gravy? And … the ravioli?”
    “And it makes you feel…”
    “Full.”
    “That’s terrible, Cath.”
    “Um … happy? Indulgent? Comforted? Doubly comforted because I’m eating two comfort foods at once?”
    “Maybe…,” he said.
    “It makes me wonder what else would be better with gravy.”
    “Ha!” he said. “Possible.”
    He started walking away from her, and she knew he was looking for his sketchbook.
    “What are we having for dinner?” Cath asked.
    “Whatever you want,” he said. Then he stopped and turned to her, like he was remembering something. “No. Taco truck. Taco truck?”
    “ Yes. I’m driving. I haven’t driven in months. Which one should we go to? Let’s go to them all.”
    “There are at least seven taco trucks, just in a two-mile radius.”
    “Bring it on,” she said. “I want to eat burritos from now until Sunday morning.”
    They ate their burritos and watched TV. Her dad scribbled, and Cath got out her laptop. Wren should be here with her laptop, too, sending Cath instant messages instead of talking.
    Cath decided to send Wren an e-mail.
    I wish you were here. Dad looks good. I don’t think he’s done dishes since we left, or that he’s used any dishes other than drinking glasses. But he’s working. And nothing is in pieces. And his eyes are in his eyes, you know? Anyway. See you Monday. Be safe. Try not to let anyone roofie you.
    Cath went to bed at one o’clock. She came back down at three to make sure the front door was locked; she did that sometimes when she couldn’t sleep, when things didn’t feel quite right or settled.
    Her dad had papered the living room with headlines and sketches. He was walking