over five hundred times. “Look at that. I bet The Unity Project’s watching it.”
“Did you tell him about the break-in?”
“Why, did you?” Paul turns to me, his tone clearly implying I shouldn’t have. I shake my head. He relaxes. “No, I didn’t, and I’d like to keep it that way. I love the guy like he’s my brother, but I think he’d enjoy that turn of events a little too much.”
I somehow manage to keep the sinking feeling in my gut from showing on my face.
Lev’s voice in my head.
We didn’t break into your office.
Arthur knew. He more than knew. The way he looked around SVO, his eyes skimming across the exact points of destruction. His destruction …
Paul looks up at my sudden silence. “What?” and I can see this small reconciliation with Arthur has made him lighter in a way I don’t want to ruin. I know what it feels like when what you think you know about someone has left you so far behind the reality. It feels impossible to find your way back into a narrative when it’s left you the world’s fool.
So I don’t tell Paul.
I get back to work.
The phone on my desk rings.
I don’t want to pick it up.
It’s snowing by the time I leave for the night, the large flakes disappearing when they touch down, but in a few more hours, the street will be covered. Morel holds its snow—not like the city—and some parts of it stay perfectly clean a few days after, even. For that brief period when everything ugly is covered under the sparkle of something so new, the world almost feels like it’s living up to its potential.
On the way to my apartment, I pass a flyer stuck to a telephone pole.
DO YOU NEED SOMEWHERE TO STAY bTONIGHT?
HOT MEALS * BEDS * SHOWERS * CONNECTION
YOU HAVE A SAFE SPACE AT THE UNITY CENTER
2012
When Bea wakes, Lev’s legs are tangled in hers, his body pressed against hers, his arm tucked firmly around her, holding her close. She’s never been so held in her life. She reaches up carefully, tracing her fingers along his arm, gentle enough not to disturb his sleep, but enough for her to indulge in him a little more before the day, and the work, begins.
Atara sleeps on the floor at the end of their bed.
Their bed.
She loves these quiet moments after waking up and, especially, those minutes before falling asleep, when they’re spent and sweaty beside each other, full of one another. She thinks—a little sheepishly—that it’s one thing to be Chosen by God and another entirely to be Chosen by Lev. It’s as perfect as she’s ever felt.
Lev shifts, waking. He presses his face against the curve of her neck, his fingers tickling across her stomach. She laughs, squirming away from him as he pulls her back, pushing himself even closer. She can feel his smile against her skin. He whispers Good morning across it.
She feels his want against her and opens herself to it.
There is no flaw in her.
When she leaves the bedroom, Casey is there. There are no barriers between Casey and Lev. She is an extension of him and it doesn’t bother Bea because there is no part of Lev Bea does not accept. She loves Casey as Lev does, and Casey loves Bea, as Lev does.
The first time Casey found Bea and Lev together, Bea was worried. She’d often wondered if Casey’s devotion to Lev bordered on other, more unrequited feelings, but Casey took Bea aside and pressed her palms lovingly against Bea’s face. Their eyes met and Bea knew, at once, that it would all be okay.
You’re my sister, Casey whispered in her ear.
Bea moves quietly down the hall and when she rounds the corner, she pauses at the window overlooking the property, listening to the sounds of Chapman House coming alive, the waking and welcoming of a beautiful new day. She bows her head.
I give thanks to you, God. You are good. Your loving kindness is forever. May Lev bless us and keep us and give us your peace.
* * *
Foster shares a two-bedroom apartment with six other members and when Bea comes to collect him, he tiptoes past one of his roommates sleeping on the living room floor. His eyes are bright; he’s always so ready for everything; he moved out of NYC within a month of being offered a placement just outside of Morel. Bea is humbled by Foster’s belief and Lev is proud of her for