Zack and Genny played onscreen together billed under their wrong names and me and Jake undressed in the green room and drafted text messages to Alanah For You: Sometimes being with you is like Chicago again, when everything was easy and fun and falling into place. Except it’s even better, because we’re together with Charlie in the room to see what we are, and so you can get to know him, and so I can really work out how it all fits together. He likes you. I can tell by the way he messes up your hair when he’s leaving for work, by the way he brings home coasters from the bar because he noticed you collecting them from around the house. I really, really hoped it was going to fix everything. But it’s not working out that way at all, and not for any of the reasons I would have expected. Charlie’s spooked, but he’s trying. I fall asleep with you as many nights as not, and it’s warm and comfortable and he looks in on us before he goes to bed and smiles like a father, and on one memorable day he brought a blanket and kissed your forehead and you squeezed his hand a little as he was leaving.
