Don't Let Him In

by Lisa Jewell

It’s not, she thinks, as she unwraps the paper from around the sandwich, that she wants a husband, or even a boyfriend. She just wants to know that the boyfriend or the husband will arrive at some point. That the job will arrive. That the career and the dog and the flat and the whole deal will arrive. It doesn’t have to be now. But some sort of guarantee would quell the fear.

She was always mad about cats, but I never let her have one because I personally don’t like them very much. I hate how it’s up to them whether they like you or not. Like you should be grateful for their attention. It annoys me, the same way that young women annoy me. They make me feel cruel.