Part Six:simo The Offer on the Porch
Vanessa came to our porch that same evening, carrying a bottle of red wine with a ribbon around the neck.
I opened the door, and Irvin came up behind me.
“I’ve come to make you an offer,” she said pleasantly, as if we were old friends who’d had a little misunderstanding.
Irvin crossed his arms. “Get to the point.”
She looked past him, straight at me.
“Tell the neighborhood you lied,” she said. “Tell them you misunderstood an innocent friendship. Tell them you humiliated me in my own backyard because you were jealous and insecure.” She paused. “And then apologize. Publicly.”
“No,” I said.
“Get off our porch,” Irvin added.
Vanessa only smiled. “You have until tomorrow morning to reconsider.”
She set the bottle of wine on the porch railing, turned, and walked back to her house without hurrying.
The door had barely clicked shut behind us when Irvin dragged both hands down his face.
