I’m instantly suspicious of these descriptors. If he was this perfect, then she wouldn’t be sitting in the basement making excuses about him to me. She’d be upstairs, swinging her feet on her bed and playfully telling him to hang up first. “Then why did you just reject his phone call?”

She looks chagrined for all of half a second before she’s blinking up at me from under big eyelashes and pulling a don’t kill me expression. “Well, he’s got this thing called a girlfriend.”

“Vera!” If I could wrestle her phone out of her grip right now, I’d put the whole thing down the garbage disposal. Phones are the enemy as far as I’m concerned. They’ve got both of the Hoffman siblings careening toward heartbreak. They should be considered heavy machinery. Vera and I need a license for these things.

“It’s not my fault! You can’t control who you have feelings for. And it’s not like anything is gonna happen.”

She’s right. All of that is right. Lord knows I’ve learned that the hard way. But that doesn’t mean she’s not waltzing her ass right into a train wreck.

“Seriously!” she insists. “That’s why I’m avoiding him right now. Because I’m trying to get over him. That way I can be a good friend and be happy for him and his perfect girlfriend.”

“You’re avoiding him so that you can get over him?”

“Yup.”

“Are you dating anyone else?”

“No, but say, that’s a good idea. Why don’t you set me up with Fred?”

“I know you’re joking, which is the only thing that’s keeping me from strangling you right now. Your timing is unreal. Fred’s finally taken.”

“What? Fred, my sweet, sweet destiny, is dating someone? How dare he?”

“No, he’s not dating her. He’s just really into her. It’s a long story.”

For a moment, I think about all the other long stories I have for Vera. I didn’t used to be a secret-keeper. But now, I’ve got so many things that I’m not talking to anyone about. But we’re sitting here, in our musty, familiar childhood basement, and maybe I should just tell her. She’s sitting in her beanbag chair the same way she’s always sat in it. Completely surrendered to gravity. I know from experience that she’ll struggle for a full fifteen seconds to get out of it. She’s the same sister she’s always been and maybe I’ve been doing myself a disservice keeping all these secrets from her.