Chapter 583

  The park is not that cold and as we wander around hand in hand eating hot dogs, feeling a hundred times better than I have in months. Arrick is on good form tonight, as the sun goes down and New York is still bustling with dog walkers and people strolling the park. He has been making jokes, laughing along with me, attentive as ever. He seems happy to be here in the city again, a lot happier than we are in France and I wonder if he too hates being there as much as I do. He has never said he doesn’t like the place, but knowing him, he wouldn’t want to put that kind of pressure on me either. I can feel it though. In how much more relaxed we are, how much we are smiling and fooling around, and I feel younger and more carefree than I have in months.

  “I don’t know how the hell you can eat so much and still weigh nothing.” Arry watches me put away my second hot dog after two corn dogs we had on the way here and I grin while stuffing the last of it in my mouth.