The person he had thought about most was Kelly. How she’d loved the apartment and had fit into it. Shopping, movies, TV, shared meals. And...and Kelly in that wedding dress. It was still in the box. He’d shoved it on a top shelf in a closet and his only thought had been that he’d never again open that box.

At the apartment, he parked in the underground lot and took the elevator up. He was glad he didn’t have to talk to anyone.

Once inside the apartment, a peace settled over him. Is this how my parents felt? he wondered.

Kelly and I could—He cut himself off from that thought.

He peeled off his clothes and got into the big shower. The hot water felt good as it hit his back.

He still didn’t know what had made him so angry last night. He’d told Kelly they were just friends, so he should have been glad to see her with a man like Miguel. He was certainly better than Treeboy.

But there was something about the way Miguel kept touching Kelly that made Adam’s fists clench.

His hands were on her neck, her bare shoulders. Worst was when his hands were out of sight. That damned dress Kelly had on was naked in the back.

And Miguel was bragging about his war wounds. He—Adam turned in the shower, letting the hot water hit his face. Wait. That wasn’t right. It was Vera who’d said the wound wasn’t from the war. So how the hell did she know that?

He got out of the shower and dried off. He hadn’t brought any clothes with him, but he had the new ones he’d bought. The long walk-in closet was still full of his parents’ clothes. Adam had squeezed in a few things of his own. He pulled on a pair of jeans, then reached for a new shirt. Instead, he took out one of his father’s shirts. It fit.

For a moment, Adam allowed regret to overtake him. The last time he’d spoken to his father had been in anger. They’d fought over... At the moment, Adam couldn’t remember what that particular argument had been about. But then, Adam and his dad had always fought.

I wanted to be the boss, he thought. I wanted to actually be what everyone said I was.

He closed his eyes. “Being an adult isn’t as easy as I thought it was going to be,” he said aloud.

He left the apartment to go to the Plaza and bought a thick Sunday newspaper, walked around a bit, then went back. But he couldn’t settle.

As he looked around the beautiful living room, he knew he had to stop hiding. There were problems in his life that had to be solved and he needed to get started on them. The first one was Vera’s safety.