I asked him why, and he said, "It's just a favor. Do you really have to make a thing of it?"
Make a thing of it.
Five words, and every question I had was shoved right back at me.
As if I were the one being unreasonable.
When I got home, my mother saw me soaked to the bone and clucked over me, aching with worry.
"On a holiday, no less. What if you catch your death out there?"
She went to pour me some hot water, her mouth never stopping.
"Is Phineas seeing someone? A while back he left a cat at his mom's place for her to look after. One look and you can tell it's a girl's cat."
I peeled off my wet clothes. "Probably will be soon."
"For someone with allergies to keep a cat, that's got to be a girl he really likes... And you. You've trailed after him since you were little, and after all these years it never came to anything."
"Mom," I said suddenly, "I got an exchange-student spot."
"That's what I came home to tell you. I leave after the holiday."
"Does Phineas know?"
"No reason to tell him."
A few seconds of silence, and then her eyes went red. She came over and held me.
"All right. When you come back you'll be a student who studied abroad. We deserve the best."
I leaned against her shoulder and said nothing.
After my shower, I sat on the edge of the bed while my mother stood behind me, drying my hair.
"You and Phineas grew up together. You've been stuck to him since preschool. You tested into whatever high school he went to, you followed him to Northbridge, and when he went into the eight-year medical program, you stayed at school for grad studies just to stay with him."
Her voice was half-muffled under the hum of the dryer.
"Almost twenty years now, Greta. I just think you deserve the best in the world... I've always thought so."
I didn't say anything. My eyes went hot again.
She didn't know that Phineas and I had been together for five years already, from south to north, from spring to winter.
It was only that he had never once acknowledged I existed.
That evening, both families had dinner together.
The moment I walked in, the cat trotted over and rubbed its head against my shin.
I bent to look at it, but I didn't reach out.
Amelia Fox smiled. "Oh, Greta, have you seen this cat before?"
I remembered the day Phineas brought it home, the rare time he'd messaged me first with a photo.
"Don't you like cats?"
That one line kept me happy the whole day.
I'd thought he was finally willing to bend for me.
A man allergic to cat hair, willing to keep a cat. Wasn't that love?
Looking back now, it's almost laughable.
It was never for me.
I shook my head. "No, I haven't."
There was a stir at the door. Phineas came in with Lacey Doyle.
She spotted the cat at once and ran over to scoop it up. "Tubby! Mama missed you so much!"
Then she turned to Phineas. "Has he been good this whole time?"
Phineas glanced at me, then said, "Haven't I been sending you videos every day?"
Amelia caught on. "This is... your girlfriend, Phineas?"
The girl glanced at Phineas and waved a hand with a laugh. "Not yet. I'm just visiting relatives abroad, so I asked him to look after Tubby for a while."
Amelia heard what she meant and warmly insisted she stay for dinner.
Phineas said nothing. He only watched me.
I knew that look.
He was waiting to see how I'd react.
In the past, at a moment like this, I'd have gotten jealous, gotten upset, made a scene with him in private.
But today I just pulled out a chair, sat down, and poured myself a glass of water.
At the table, Amelia served the girl food twice.
The first time was cilantro, and he warned, "She doesn't eat cilantro."
