“You’re going to be in amazing shape just from bringing groceries home,” Harper gasped. “I can’t believe we got the couch up here ourselves.”

Gloria laughed as she unpacked the last dish of her brand-new dinner service for four. “I can’t believe it’s mine. I can put something on the counter, and it will still be there when I come back. I can watch anything I want on TV. I can lounge around naked all day if I want!” She ticked the items off on her fingers.

Her own place. She’d been frugal with her paychecks and had saved up for the first month’s rent and security deposit with no one else’s help. She’d done it, snagging the creaky-floored apartment two floors above Dawson’s Pizza. Even now, the faint scents of basil and garlic could be detected on the breeze from the open windows.

She met Harper in the living room, and together they appreciated her view through the tall bow window. Main Street Benevolence bustled below. Across the street, the police station’s glass windows gleamed, and the door to Common Grounds Cafe opened and closed.

It was part of what she loved about this particular apartment. She was in the middle of all that was Benevolence. She was a part of it, even if it was only by proximity. And she loved it so fiercely it made her chest burn with something that felt suspiciously like pride.

“This is pretty perfect,” Harper said in approval.

Gloria couldn’t have agreed more. “Want a drink?”

“For the love of God, yes! Please!” Sophie’s voice was muffled by the box of kitchen miscellany that covered her face and chest. She dumped it unceremoniously in the middle of the kitchen floor, a characterless beige tile that Gloria had joyfully scrubbed clean ten minutes after she got the keys.

Sophie flopped down in a dining chair. “That’s literally the last thing. You’re all moved in.”

Gloria grabbed the six-pack of soda she’d stashed in her fridge and squashed the urge to pirouette around the boxes and bags. She’d do that when she was alone.

Harper jogged to her bag. “Wait, Gloria! Put the can down! We can’t let the first drink in your very own home be diet soda.”

She revealed a bottle of champagne with a flourish.

Sophie clapped her hands. “Nothing happier than the sound of champagne being uncorked!”

Harper helped herself to the meager collection of coffee mugs that Gloria had put away in the cabinet and poured.