Read Chapter 19: — THE BOY ACROSS THE HALL

The young man in the flat opposite Eleanor's introduced himself as Leo Lewis.

He was twenty-four, studying product design, working freelance and apparently born without the social instinct that told people when they had spoken enough.

He borrowed sugar. Returned it with cake. Fixed Lily's broken toy rabbit stitching with the concentration of a surgeon. Drew cartoons on notes he left under Eleanor's door.

Arthur adored him.

“So what do you design?” Arthur asked one evening.

“Furniture mostly.”

“Useful furniture?”

Leo hesitated. “Sometimes conceptual.”

“So not useful.”

Leo laughed.

Lily treated him like an older brother. He never asked about her father. He simply played games, drew animals and let her talk when she wanted.

Adrian met him once and disliked him immediately for reasons he insisted were entirely rational.

“He has no boundaries.”

“He's young.”

“He called you 'Ellie' after knowing you three weeks.”

“You call me Eleanor after dating me two months. Maybe Leo is winning.”

Adrian looked offended.

Their three-month experiment was becoming harder to categorize. They had dinners, walks, phone calls, arguments. Adrian never pushed for intimacy. Eleanor appreciated that and occasionally resented it.

He was steady.

But sometimes, when his ex-wife called, a distance returned to his face.

Victoria still occupied part of him.

Eleanor knew because Michael still occupied part of her.

Perhaps adults did not begin again by becoming empty.

Perhaps they simply made room.