Niagara Falls was little more than a hotel room in my memory, but I liked being there because no one was going to walk in on me, demand something from me, or want to see me. I could have stayed there with Fletch forever.

I also liked getting on the plane with him and going back to his apartment, that would be my apartment, and our apartment.

I went down and made friends with Evelyn who ran the fragrance shop. When she heard I’d quit working at the recording studio, she offered me a job, which I accepted. I hadn’t decided exactly which design program I wanted to take, and I could certainly work at her delicious smelling shop until I figured out what I wanted.

I got my stuff from my apartment and was surprised at how little room it took up in Fletch’s place. Pieces that took up a whole wall in my jewelry box apartment were little more than accents.

“I’m throwing out all your dishes,” I informed him.

“I got you some boxes to do just that. They’re in the corner. I’ll drop them off at the thrift store on my way to work tomorrow if you’ve filled them up by then.”

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“You’re cool with it?” I asked doubtfully.

“Of course, I’m cool with it. I told you I would be when you had me over for dinner. Change anything you like, but if you get an opaque shower curtain, we’ll have words.”

I laughed. “But there’s no privacy in that bathroom. We can’t have anyone visit. Can’t we put up some room dividers around the toilet?”

He rolled his eyes. “It’s a slippery slope. Why do you think I want to live in an apartment with the toilet out in the open?”

“So no one ever comes over?”

“Yup.”

“What if I want a little privacy?”

He sighed. “Fine. Do what you’ve got to do around the toilet, but I meant what I said about the shower curtain.”

He said that, but if I said I needed an opaque shower curtain, he would give it to me. I was fast learning, he’d give me anything.

And I loved him. I loved him much more than I ever dreamed I would.

He brought me into the part of his apartment where he made his wooden xylophones and showed me how he made them and introduced me to a Dremel tool, which I enjoyed immediately. I had wanted to leave my mark somewhere, and carving designs into the sides of his xylophones was a delight. He burned F & S Litman onto the sides of each of them before they were sold and shipped.

I left my mark everywhere.

THE END