The first snow of the year was coming down when I got to Nicole's building.
I rang the bell three times, stopped, and then rang it again.
"Nicole. Open up," I said.
The door opened, and she stood there gripping her phone and staring at me.
The screen was still lit, showing her message thread with Simon. Her side filled the whole page with one blue bubble after another, while the replies were short enough to fit in a telegram.
'So she chases people too,' I thought. 'The one she chases just isn't me.'
"I know I'm pathetic," I heard myself say.
"You didn't have to come here and tell me that. You dragged me to the door, so what do you want?"
"Three months."
"What?"
"Three more months and I can put Leah and her mother out on the street with nothing. I'll settle up with Dalton in the s
