“Are you saying I’m the cutest thing in the world?”

“You’re nuts.”

“Squirrels love nuts.”

She laughed. I lay there on my back looking into her bright eyes that appeared even greener in the light of day. I reveled in our lighthearted banter, had forgotten I was supposed to be shy around her, that we had only just met. Both of us were at ease now.

“So, you tell me the plan, then,” I said.

She looked out the window, out into the gray and the cold and the accumulating snow. “It’s freezing out, isn’t it?”

“Yep.”

“Can I wear this home?”

“Are you sure you want to? I mean, will it get you into trouble?”

“No. He’s working today.”

“Then wear it home. But if you don’t come back I’m going to hunt you down.”

“I’ll come back, silly.”

I gathered her dirty clothes in a plastic bag. She pulled on her jacket. It was too big on her small frame and fell to her knees. With the sweatpants too long, and the jacket too large, she looked like an orphan wearing hand-me-downs waiting for the train. It made me smile.

“I’ll see you in three hours,” I said.

She nodded. I put my number into her phone and then called it so I had her number as well. Then I kissed her, and she walked out the door.

2

Carolyn arrived a little before three, dressed in jeans, a black turtleneck sweater, a red scarf wrapped around the bottom half of her face so that her eyes shone brightly. She had lost most of the unkempt qualities I’d noticed the night before. In her right hand she held the same plastic bag she had taken with her, my sweat pants and hooded sweatshirt on top, but beneath those she had tried hiding a fresh set of clothes I assumed she intended to wear tomorrow. The sight of them made me buoyant. I unraveled the scarf and pressed my lips to her cold face. She was wearing makeup, her cheeks gently rouged, hair pulled back into a ponytail.

“You look very pretty,” I said.

She smiled. “You shouldn’t seem so surprised.”

“I’m not surprised. Just paying you a compliment.”

“Well thanks,” she said and bobbed a curtsy.

We took the train downtown, holding hands until we reached the theater on Illinois. The snow had ceased falling, though several inches now blanketed the ground. Carolyn wanted to see Charlotte’s Web. I didn’t mind. I loved the book. It was one my grandmother had read to me.