The apartment lease would be ready by nine that evening—Jeff was always up late, bouncing around at his many properties, fixing lights and dishwashers and handling tenant complaints.

Faced with a few hours to kill—in the wake of our decision to be together, at least for another night—I drove Ruby back towards downtown. My sister’s salon was closed up, but the light in her apartment was on. I parked on the street and pointed up at it, saying, “Leandra lives here. She hasn’t met a girlfriend of mine since I was in high school.”

Calling Ruby my girlfriend had been a test. I couldn’t quite tell what she thought of me, or even if she wanted to stay behind in Los Angeles for me. But the way she smiled at the mention of this more “sure” title made me understand—she cared for me. Maybe even as much as I cared for her.

“I’d love to meet her,” Ruby finally said, her voice soft.

I took Ruby’s hand in mine as we walked up the front steps of the salon. With a tight fist, I pounded on the door.

“I can’t believe I thought he was going to cut off your fingers,” Ruby laughed.

“I always have those situations figured out, Ruby,” I told her. “You can trust me.”

Her grip grew firmer, clinging to mine.

Leandra appeared moments later. Her dyed-red hair was swept up in a wild ponytail, and she looked young and bright-eyed without her normal mask of makeup. She eyed me curiously, and then ducked out of the glass door, to grasp Ruby’s free hand.

“I don’t know what my brother put you through the past few days, but I’d imagine it was a lot,” she said, good-naturedly. “Come on inside. Let me get you a glass or three of wine.”

She gave me a wink and wrapped her arm around Ruby, holding onto her tight. I followed them into the salon, past the stations of sinks and hairspray, through to the back staircase, and up into her cozy apartment.

The white couch, stretched along the far wall, had been the couch I’d slept on the weeks after I’d returned from Afghanistan. Just looking at that couch, as I held Ruby’s hand in mine, I realized how far I’d come. I was so glad to be free of that past.

Leandra poured us all glasses of wine and sat with us, staring at me with bright, almost menacing eyes. “Are you going to tell me what happened with all this, then?” she asked. “With this Clark Lambert? Also, why the hell did I receive a million bucks this morning? Don’t think I don’t know you’re up to something, Billy Jay. Don’t think you can get away with this.”

I spread my palms flat against the tabletop. After everything that had happened, my head felt heavy. After a long moment’s hesitation, Ruby placed her hand on my wrist and squeezed it, speaking for me.

“I guess what you need to know is,” she began.

Someone pounded at the door. For a moment, my heart stopped in my chest. Had one of Clark’s henchmen caught up to us? Had Clark sent a contact-hire to kill us? My eyes flicked toward the door. Leandra rose to answer it, but I cut her off.

“Let me do it.”

I took the steps two at a time, fear coursing through my veins. The silhouette at the door was indeed a man’s, dark against the light posts out front. I frowned, grabbing the baseball bat Leandra kept in the corner, in case of robberies. Squeezing the door handle, I called out.

“Who is it?”

The silence dragged on a bit too long, making my stomach clench. Moments later, however, I heard a familiar, if aged and slightly haggard, voice.

“Billy Jay? Is that you?”

It was my father. The sound of it was like coming home after a long journey. It wrapped around my ears and head, making me feel younger, less tired. I opened the door slowly, inch by inch, and revealed him.

My father was hunched over slightly, from years of bad posture, with an eager smile and bright, intelligent eyes. He wore the shirt I had given him for Father’s Day ten years ago. It was a bit ratty at the edges, but still his. The jeans were a bit too short on his tall frame, and he’d lost a good deal of muscle in his arms and legs. But it was still him. It was still my dad.

“Wow.” With a quick motion, I dropped the baseball bat and stepped forward, wrapping him in a hug. We held each other close for a long moment, before drawing back, both of us unaccustomed to being hugged. Especially by each other.

“Billy Jay, I didn’t know you were in town,” my dad told me. I let him in, locking the door behind him. Upstairs, I could hear the girls whispering. They weren’t going to interrupt us.

“I should have told you,” I said.

“Well, it’s clearing up a few things in my head,” Dad said, chortling. “I came over to see Leandra to tell her something spectacular. But now that I see you…”

The million dollars in his account. Of course. I shrugged sadly, saying, “I couldn’t let that bastard do that to you.”

As we looked into one another’s eyes, all of our bad history seemed to become obsolete. Everything he had said to me, when I’d entered the army. How I had told him I didn’t care if he died. We were both older, wiser, and we’d already lost too much time.

“Are you sticking around?” he asked, his voice creaking.

I nodded. “Actually, just got an apartment. Silver Lake. Near your place.”

His eyes glowed with happiness. “You’ve found a reason to stay.”

“Ya’ll going to come up here?” Leandra called from the stairs. “Because Ruby and I have already poured an extra drink.”

“Ruby?” Dad asked. His smile stretched wider.

I nodded. The information passed between us. He could read my happiness like a book.

“Then I guess we better join them. That Leandra is just like your momma. She won’t let us get away with anything.”

He brought his arm around my shoulder and we walked upstairs, side-by-side, until we found the girls at the top. Leandra wrapped our dad in a hug, and then Ruby stood, looking shy at first, before addressing him.

“Hi there. It’s good to meet you, finally.”

“English! From the Midlands, if I’m not mistaken?” Dad said.

“How did you know?” Ruby laughed. “Nobody can place this accent. Nobody in America, that is.”

“Dad’s been around,” Leandra said, rolling her eyes. “And he won’t let us forget it.”

We sat around the table that night, swapping stories, with Ruby and I holding hands. As we grew progressively tipsier, we laughed louder, falling into each other like the family we always should have been. Despite the occasional pang of regret that I hadn’t stayed behind, that I hadn’t worked to build a relationship after Afghanistan, I allowed myself the unique and gorgeous moments with them. My Dad, the spitting image of me, and Leandra, the spitting image of my mother. And then, there was Ruby: unlike anyone I had ever met. The girl of my dreams.

After opening and then drinking the second bottle of wine, Ruby and I excused ourselves. “Gotta go sign this lease,” I told them, bringing Ruby’s face closer and kissing her cheek. “We have a home to move into. We have a life to live.”

“That you do,” Dad said, his voice scratchy. His eyes were watery, showing his emotions. He hugged Ruby tightly and shook my hand, revealing that he hadn’t lost all that strength from his youth. Not yet. Not by a long shot.

Ruby and I hailed a cab and nuzzled together in the back seat, watching the lights swirl outside as the driver whisked us back to Silver Lake. She cooed in my ear, telling me, “This was one of the best nights of my life.”

I clung to her elbow, holding her tight. As we drove, I imagined Everett on his way back to New York City without me, alone in a city that became chilly and cold and alienating as the months wore on. I had needed that, for a time. I had needed the isolation.

But now, I only needed this.

After paying the cabbie, I led Ruby up to the third floor of the Silver Lake apartment complex. I’d toured it a few days before with my friend Jeff, who would be our landlord. He flicked his cigarette over the stairs and flung open the door, welcoming us inside with a clap on my shoulder and a wide grin. The papers were laid out on the table, with the signature lines highlighted.

The place was barren, except for the king-sized bed he had set up for me before arriving. The living room had floor-to-ceiling windows, with hardwood floors that extended into the kitchen. I watched Ruby walk the length of the apartment, admiring the chrome of the kitchen appliances and the richness of the suite, wondering if she was imagining the life for us that I saw in my own head.

I held the pen in my hand and signed where Jeff told me. The money would be deposited in the morning. Done and done. Ruby and I stood on the stoop, watching Jeff leave. At the top of the step, he snapped his fingers as he lit a new cigarette.

“I left a little something for you in the fridge. A housewarming gift,” he said.

The moment the door closed behind us, Ruby and I were alone for the first time in hours. She rushed to the fridge, opening it to find a selection of white wines, meats and cheeses. Ruby yanked out a bottle and poured us two glasses, which had been waiting for us on the counter. As she poured, I came up behind her, wrapping my arms around her waist. I inhaled her smell—flowery, even after the panic of the day. Even after so much change.

“I’m so glad you’re still here,” I whispered into her ear. “Please. Stay forever.”

She whirled around, passing a glass to me. In the center of the kitchen, we kissed for the first time in our new home. I sucked at her bottom lip, then bit at it playfully. She moaned slowly. Moving away from me, she sipped half of her wine, holding my attention. With a flourish, she placed the glass back on the counter and removed her dress, standing naked before me in the center of the room. Her hips highlighted her small waist, her thighs were perfect, pale, and soft. I reached out, touching her firm breasts, holding them softly in my hands.

There were no words for the way I felt at that moment.

Her eyes were telling me to be forceful, gruff. I pushed her against the countertop, spreading her legs wide. Her perfect, peach lips separated for me, showing their soft wetness. I pressed two fingers against the opening, watching as her face changed. Her mouth opened again, moaning softly. As I pushed deeper inside her, I felt her grow wetter, and I watched as she shoved her hands forward, gripping my shoulders.

Moving down her shoulder, I kissed her perfect skin. I kissed the center of her breasts, flicking my tongue against her nipples, and then continued kissing down her stomach, her belly button, to her gorgeous pussy. Slipping my tongue along it, I nuzzled deeper into her, feeling her squirm at my touch. I held onto her legs, holding her down tight, as I touched her lovingly, kissing her pink and wet flesh.

She couldn’t take it anymore, pulling me up again and tearing into my pants, ripping them open. After sliding the zipper down, she pulled out my pulsing cock, which had been dying to be freed. Her hand gripped it, unable to wrap all the way, and began to glide up and down it. My eyes closed; my body grew lax, and then strained again.

Tossing my pants behind me, I moved toward her, bringing my cock against the perfect slit of her pussy. Inhaling her scent, I moved my cock inside her, rubbing against the impossible softness. She wrapped her arms around my shoulders, rubbing at the muscles and moaning. In these moments, our bodies became one impossible connected being. Nobody could pull us apart.

With each thrust on the counter, I sensed she was coming undone. After a pause, a gasp, I carried her from the counter and onto the new bed—decked out new in sheets and a comforter, and flung her on the mattress. This was far different than the motel fucking. This was our new home, and we were christening it.

She reached forward, tracing a line from my lips, down between the muscles of my chest, before grabbing my cock and balls. She brought her lips around the tip of my cock, sucking at the swollen head before moving up and down the length of my shaft. Her hands clutched my balls. My hands were gripping her shoulders so tightly, I felt sure I would break her.

Just when I began to feel my mind falling to orgasm, she stopped. Our bodies were in tune with one another’s, telling each other what to do. She spun around and got down on her hands and knees. I crept up behind her, opening her pussy lips with two fingers, and entered her from behind. The position was perfect, pressing my length directly against the softness of her G-spot. She cried out blissfully as I rubbed her clit with my free hand.

Overcome with passion, she pushed against me, urging my thrusts deeper and stronger.

“Cum with me, baby,” she whispered. “Cum.”

I thrust a final time, deep inside her, and felt myself give. With a final moan, we came together, with fireworks in our heads and our bodies heaving with lust and fiery passion. When it was over, we collapsed on the mattress, panting together. What we’d just done, I realized then, could be ours forever. This apartment was ours. And, as far as I was concerned, this apartment was the world.

I tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, whispering, “I think we just showed this apartment who we are.”

“It was a necessary introduction. But it knocked me out,” she said, giggling.

“I don’t know what I would have done if you’d have left me,” I laughed. “Imagine if you were on that plane right now.”

“Worse. I’d be on a layover in Vancouver, wondering why I had ever left.”

I nuzzled closer to her, kissing her shoulder. I could sense she was already falling asleep, safe in the comfort of my arms. The world outside could continue its mad race.

“You saved me, you know that?” I asked her. “You saved me from a horrible life in New York. You brought me back to my family. You made me realize that living is important. After so many years of not really knowing the reason for being here or being who I was.”

“Same,” she whispered back.

We slept after that. We slept far past noon the next day, both exhausted from all that had happened. We woke together, rejuvenated and alive, ready to build a life. One that was worlds better than the past, because we were together. Side by side, hand in hand, we would make it. Against all odds.