Deal

The morning of Fourth of July, my friends Roman and Jen and I went shopping on Michigan Ave. We meandered between dress racks and I dragged my fingers across a shirt here, a pair of slacks there. Unless I liked the feel of it I wouldn’t pull any garment off the rack.

“How do you deal with it, Wil?” Jen referred to the media attention my job had lately gotten. Jen was a nurse in the pulmonary wing at Rush Hospital. She lived in the same building where Roman and I lived as roommates and that was how we’d gotten to know her.

“I guess I ignore it.”

“She compartmentalizes, like a serial killer.” Roman brushed past me with her eye on the upper racks. Roman and I had known each other longer. We met in college and our sisterly relationship had only grown stronger over the years.

“Thanks!” I said sarcastically.

“Teasing!” she retorted.

Jen brushed her bangs to the side revealing a creased brow. She seemed broody. “All that attention would bother me. I’d never go out.” Very private, Jen hardl