Because It Is My Blood Read Online Free Page B

love story. I’ll do the lawsuit.”
    Natty nodded. “Yes, she is good to us, isn’t she?”
    I took a deep breath, making sure that I had all my parcels. Detergent, check. Conditioner, check. Pasta, check. Flowers, check. Thermos, check. Oranges … Blast! I’d somehow left the oranges in Win’s mother’s booth. No way I was going back for them either.
    We left the books booth, and despite the fact that she was way too old for it, I took Natty’s hand. “Were you able to get any fresh fruit?” she asked.
    I told her that I hadn’t been. I must have looked truly wretched when I said this because Natty felt the need to comfort me. “It’s fine. We still have canned pineapple,” Natty said. “Maybe even some frozen raspberries.”
    We were almost out of Union Square when I felt a hand on my shoulder. “You left these,” he said. I turned, but I already knew who it was. Of course it was Win. “My mother insisted I find you…”
    What was wrong with Win’s mother?
    “Hello, Natty,” Win continued.
    “Hello, Win,” she said coolly. “You don’t wear hats anymore. I liked you better with hats.”
    I took the sack of oranges and said nothing.
    “I almost didn’t catch up with you two. I’m not as fast as I used to be, I guess,” Win said.
    “How is your leg?” I asked.
    Win smiled. “Still hurts like heck. How was the rest of your summer?”
    I smiled, too. “Awful.” I shook my head to steel myself against him. “I heard you’re seeing Alison Wheeler.”
    “Yes, Anya, I am,” Win replied after a pause. “Word moves quickly.”
    And hearts even more so. “I once told you that you’d get over me faster than you thought, and I was right.”
    “Anya…” he said.
    I knew I sounded bitter, and what was the point of that? The truth was, any wrong he might be doing me now, I probably deserved. It was an accomplishment really—to have turned someone as devoted as Win so quickly.
    I told him I was happy for him. I didn’t mean it, but I was trying to pretend like I was a grownup. (Didn’t grownups tell lies like that?) He looked as if he might have wanted to explain about Alison, but I didn’t really want to know. Usually, I wanted to know everything about everything, but in this case, I was fine being left in a forgiving patch of darkness. Win had made things easy for me, hadn’t he? Instead, I leaned in to hug him for what I imagined would be the last time. “Take care of yourself,” I said. “I probably won’t be seeing you around.”
    “No,” he agreed. “Probably not.”
    I guess I was sentimental back then. I had one bar of Balanchine Special Dark left and I gave it to him. I made him promise that he wouldn’t show his dad. He took the bar without a word or a wisecrack about it being poisoned. I was grateful for that. He just slipped the bar into his pocket and then he disappeared into the crowd. He did have a limp, and it occurred to me that I was glad to have left him with something other than that limp. He probably counted himself luckier than Gable Arsley.
    Natty and I got on the bus with our parcels. “Why Alison Wheeler?” Natty asked after we’d been on the bus a couple of minutes. “He loves you.”
    “I broke up with him, Natty.”
    “Yes but—”
    “And I got him shot.”
    “But—”
    “And maybe he’s tired of me. Of our family. Of how difficult it all is. Sometimes I get tired of me, too.”
    “Not Win. No,” Natty said in a soft but resolute voice. “It doesn’t make sense.”
    I sighed. Natty might have looked twenty-five, but her heart was still so very twelve (thirteen!) and this was comforting to me. “I can’t think about him anymore. I have to find a school to go to. I have to see Cousin Mickey. I have to call Yuji Ono. But from now on, we’re going to the market at Columbus Circle,” I said. “I don’t care if we do have to cross the park!”
    *   *   *
    As we entered the apartment, the phone was ringing. I heard Imogen answer it.