Harper nodded. "She would. People do things for a reason, right? So she's thinking, what's the reason here?"
"Reason is I don't want to own a house. "
"But reasons have layers. That's only the top layer. She's asking herself, OK, why doesn't he want to own a house?"
"Because I don't want the hassle. She knows that. I told her. "
"Bureaucratic type of hassle?"
He nodded. "It's a big pain in the a*s. "
"Yes, it is. A real big pain in the a*s. But she's thinking bureaucratic hassle is just a kind of symbol for something else. "
"Like what?"
"Like wanting to be footloose. "
"You're just going around in a circle. "
"I'm just telling you how she's thinking. "
The philosophy student brought coffee and Danish. Left a check written out in a neat, academic hand. Harper picked it up.
"I'l
