shelf so that Cleo could help herself to one whenever she wanted.
The first time that Cleo met the whole Coffey family, she was overwhelmed, to say the least. They were loud and could be crass. They hugged often, sometimes for no reason at all. With no warning, they’d just reach over and pull the person standing next to them into an embrace. They touched each other’s hair and squeezed shoulders when they passed by. More than once, Cleo jumped when a hand surprised her.
“You have a family of touchers,” she told Max. Then she tried to take it back and explain what she meant, because it sounded like she was accusing them of something. But Max just laughed. It was nearly impossible to upset him.
WHEN MONICA RETURNED, HALFWAY THROUGH junior year, Cleo was ecstatic. She couldn’t wait to introduce her to Max, to talk to her every night, to have a friend in the house again. But Monica wasn’t interested in any of it. She spent most of her time shut away in her room. She seemed mad at everyone, like they’d all betrayed her. Cleo apologized for calling her parents, but it didn’t make a difference. Monica just shrugged like she couldn’t care less. When Cleo talked to her—about school or Max or parties—she’d just look back at her, visibly bored. It was as if they’d never known each other before.
Cleo didn’t know how to make it better. For a few days, she’d give Monica space, and then she’d decide that it would be better to spend more time together, so she’d force her way into Monica’s room, sit with her and do homework. But nothing seemed to work. Monica was different and no matter what Cleo did, it wasn’t getting better. It was lonelier than when she’d been gone.
Max lived on the top floor of a house in Lewisburg that was converted to a two-bedroom apartment. At the end of junior year, his roommate, Charlie, was asked by the college not to return the following year (a polite way to kick someone out), and Max asked Cleo to move in with him.
“Come on,” he said. “It’s perfect. I don’t want to get some random to move in, and you’re here all the time anyway.”
That was true, but Cleo wasn’t sure. “I’m not sure my mom would like that.”
“My mom wouldn’t like it either,” Max said. “We just won’t tell them.”
Cleo was, first of all, just a little offended at the thought that Max’s mother wouldn’t like their living together, even though she’d just said the same thing about her own mom. Still. It was different.
“Just think about it,” Max said.
And so she did. She thought about what it would be like to give up her house and move in with Max. How she could use his milk whenever she wanted, how he would never yell at her if it was her turn to buy the toilet paper. It was tempting. Very tempting.
But it was a crazy idea. Couples in college didn’t live together. They’d barely been dating a year, and what were they going to do? Live together for the rest of their lives?
“You’re overthinking it,” Max told her.
But Cleo didn’t think she was. She tried to picture herself living there, tried to imagine what it would feel like to wake up with Max every morning, to have all of her clothes there in a real dresser instead of the Tupperware box that she kept them in now. But then she thought about what would happen if they broke up, how she’d probably end up sleeping in the other bedroom since it would be impossible to move midyear.
That was enough to make Cleo decide to stay in her own house. Also, she felt disloyal leaving Monica, even if she barely spoke to her anymore. It was just one more year, and really she could do anything for a year. Maybe things would change and senior year at the house would end up being fun. Maybe Monica would go back to her old self. Anything could happen.
A few days later, Laura came out of her bedroom holding a cardboard wheel and looking full of purpose. Laura, a sturdy girl from Iowa, had gained all the weight that Monica had lost over the years, and was now bordering on being truly fat. People always used to say that Laura “had a really pretty face,” but Cleo didn’t think they even said that anymore.
“What is that?” Cleo asked. She was sitting