88

I rolled my eyes yet again, stepping down from the tall chair to pick up our polished dishes and take them to the basin. I heard him step down too and open the fridge.

“I’m afraid I only have pistachio with chocolate chips and aniseed cream,” he said.

“Shame on you. Where d’you have bowls?”

“In the cupboard.”

I brought two fancy crystal bowls to the island while he reached out to grab spoons from the first drawer, leaving two packs of ice cream before him.

“I’ve got a challenge for you,” he said, filling the bowls. “Last week, in New York, my wife brought it up and—”

“You call your boyfriend wife?”

“What? No. Lou’s my partner and my wife is my wife. Actually, she’s Lou’s big sister.”

“Gross.”

“Not really. I’ll explain some other time. We haven’t divorced ‘cause I want her to have access to my money for anything she may need. We’re good friends, you see.”

“Go figure, if she’s okay with you fucking her brother.”

“She set us up.”

“And you let her go?”

He blinked, taken aback, and then la