This Is Where I Sleep by Tiffany Patterson

wasn’t in any danger. That’s just not the way my life was.
    “Good. I trust you to be smart,” she stated.
    We spent the next twenty minutes catching up. She told me about her social work in an eating disorder facility and how much she was enjoying it. I could hear the passion in her voice. I felt proud remembering the tears she cried in my arms coming to the realization that her dreams of becoming a prima ballerina would never come true. The happiness in her voice lifted a weight off of my shoulders that I hadn’t even known was there. I breathed a little easier hearing my sister talk about new treatment options and expanding her facility’s reach to working-class and women of color. Before hanging up, she made me promise to still call her at my usual Saturday time. Next, I dialed another number.
    “It’s about time you called. I was beginning to think you’d forgotten all about me.” The airy voice tried to sound admonishing, but also held a hint of laughter.
    I chuckled. “Whatever, Tasha. We spoke three days ago.”
    She faked a pout. “Three days is too long.”
    I shook my head. Tasha was what I would consider the closest thing I had to a friend these days. I told her more about my life than I told my family. Mine and Tasha’s actual connection was a complicated one, and she didn’t like to discuss her past, so we rarely talked about how we actually knew each other. Those were painful memories for her.
    “Anyway, where are you now?”
    Before I caught the words, they slipped out, “I’m in Dallas.” I guessed I was feeling the need to share with someone what was happening in my life.
    “Dallas? Hmm-wait, isn’t that where he who shall not be named lives?”
    I sighed. She too knew of my complicated relationship with Liam. “Yes.”
    “And?”
    “And what?” I snapped.
    “Don’t play dumb with me, Coral. And are you working with Liam?”
    I pushed out a heavy breath as my only response.
    “Oh my God, you are. Is this the first time you’ve seen him in how many years?”
    “More than five. Well, except last October when I went to DC.”
    “You’ve been holding out. Tell me,” she demanded.
    Usually, I could keep my business private, but I wanted to share with someone what I’d been feeling the last few months. First seeing Liam at the ball, and now working on this case in such close proximity. I told Tasha mostly everything, keeping a few details to myself.
    “Well, what are you going to do?”
    “Nothing. I’m going to work this case and then move on like always.”
    “Coral,” she hesitated, “I think you need to talk to Liam. Maybe he didn’t leave for the reasons you think he did. Maybe...” she trailed off.
    “Maybe what? You know something I don’t?” I asked. Tasha knew Liam. They’d met years earlier when Tasha had come back into my life after years apart.
    “No. I just remember the way he used to look at you. I know what love looks like and it was written all over his face.”
    I ran my hand over my short curls and stared out the window at the darkening sky. “I don’t want to talk about it, Tash. Tell me how the new book is coming,” I deflected. For the past five years, Tasha had worked full-time as a sci-fi writer. Her books were extremely popular, and they centered on a young African-American girl in alternate universes saving the planet Earth from destruction. I loved her stories, and I could tell that Tash was writing for the girl she was who needed saving. She’d made the New York Times’ bestseller list multiple times. Despite her success, the most fascinating part was no one had any idea who she was. She wrote under a pen name and did not do public interviews. I knew why she refused to go public and given her history, and I could understand why.
    “Nice deflection, but I’ll let it slide because I need to bounce a couple ideas off you anyway,” she responded.
    We spent another thirty minutes talking about some ideas Tasha had come up with for future