Poppy gave up her bedroom and started sleeping in the basement with Brad. It all happened without discussion, as natural as a change in the weather. They planned meals together, cooked, and spent long hours at Boswell Books, the neighborhood bookstore, leaning against each other as they read on the big, comfy canoodling couch. They laughed as they stumbled home from drinking at Von Trier, the neighborhood German bar, and talked constantly when they went on long walks.

He was smart and confident, and he didn’t smell like a wet suit. She liked that he didn’t put pressure on her to be any different from the way she was. Most unsettling was her feeling that they were becoming her parents. They lived together in the house with the same closeness, the same ease. They were spread out on his bed, lit by the dim green light of her father’s antique desk lamp. His foot bent inward at the ankle. He wasn’t self-conscious of his foot anymore, or anything else, which made her wonder if he’d had lots of lovers or just one who had been particularly accepting. She liked the softness of his red chest hair, the rough calluses on his fingertips, and his sturdy presence. She felt he could absorb her.

Poppy said, “Don’t you ever want to leave?”

“Leave where? Your house?”

“No, Milwaukee. I spent my whole childhood wanting to get out of here, and you’ve never left.”

“I like it. Besides, where would I go?”

“Anywhere. There are lots of places.”

“Yeah, but my business is here. My parents. My friends. People know me, I know people. Beer’s cheap. I make a point of seeing the lake every day. The people are nice. This is a great city. I can afford to live here, and Chicago is just a train ride away. It’s home. It’s easy.”

“Isn’t that the problem?”

“What?”

“That it’s easy.”

“Why make things hard?” He slowly ran his finger down the bridge of her nose.

“It’s hard to explain.” Poppy tried not to think of Brad’s complacency as a problem. Was it really so bad to feel that way, to be released from the restless energy she felt?

Brad said, “I don’t feel like I need to run around the world chasing after something I’ve already got.”

“I’m not chasing anything.”