slowed my breathing, tried again: “She doesn’t just want to talk about family. She wants to meet them. She keeps trying to drag me to meet hers. I thought I was hooking up with Chelsea, you know, nobody ever told me I’d have to share airspace with…” “You do it?” “Once.” Reaching, grasping things, feigning acceptance, feigning friendship. “It was great, if you like being ritually pawed by a bunch of play-acting strangers who can’t stand the sight of you and don’t have the guts to admit it.”
