“Literal.” The doorman, from the lobby’s control center, gave us nonresidents the once-over. “And metaphorical.”

“You sound like you’ve made up your mind, done and dusted.”

“I have.” I focused on Atlas, ignoring, for the moment, the vigilante at his desk. “I can’t go on like everything is normal, like what he did was okay. It’s not right or fair. Think about Ari, and her dad. How many more of us are out there, going through similar situations?” I paused. “You’re right about how the article will affect me. It will act as a sledgehammer to my life as I know it. I’ll have to resign—”

His hand went to his forehead. “Miles. Jesus, Daisy, of course. I hadn’t considered—”

I stilled him. “It’s okay. Like I said, things are going to get broken. And that’s the way it should be.”

“This is wild, Daisy,” Atlas said. Then he lowered his head and smiled. “Courageous, reckless—maybe both. It’s certainly not something I imagine the Daisy of last year would do.”

I felt myself blushing. His was the only attention I didn’t mind in the least. “Ari,” I said, “is a great cook and a gracious host. Please thank her again for me.”

He rocked back on his heels. “You know, she asked me to move in with her.”

I had to accept that I’d be ever the friend, the confidante. Which is to say, I’d just have to make do, because I loved him too much to say goodbye. “And?” I prompted.

“I know she wants me to marry her, too.”

“And?” I gestured with my hand, scrolling him forward.

“And, I don’t know. It’s hard to know. I am consistently unsure. I wonder if that is me lacking confidence generally, or if it has something to do with the relationship.”

My breath caught. I became aware of the other people strolling through the lobby, checking their mailboxes, and the surly doorman, who’d definitely overheard. I wished Atlas and I were in private. I wanted to get us both into sweatpants, pour a nightcap, put music on, and chat for hours more. “Wallis used to think that when you know, you know.”

“Used to?” He tucked a winged lock of hair behind his ear.

“With what’s happened with Blake, I can’t say she believes like she did, before.” When she’d met Blake, there had been a small bit of me that had judged her for falling so hard, so fast, thinking she’d misplaced her trust in love, rather than in caution and good sense. But I didn’t like the possibility that it might be gone, or that Blake had taken it from her. The world would be much grimmer without Wallis truly as herself.