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Chapter 58<br />
JULIA COMES TO SAN FRANCISCO<br />
The train door slid open and Julia walked onto the platform and into another world. She wasn’t<br />
sure this was the right stop until she saw the sign that read GLEN PARK. She made her way<br />
toward the exit, dragging a large wheelie suitcase behind her.<br />
As she strode into the sunlight of San Francisco, she saw him standing on the street, waiting. His<br />
hair was as ragged as it had been the day they met, though he looked slightly different now. He was<br />
older? Or wiser? Or tougher? She didn’t know what it was, but something about him had changed.<br />
Still, Julia couldn’t control herself. She ran up to Ross and hugged him as she let out a crushing<br />
“ahhhhh.” She then stood back, looked him up and down, and blurted out, “Are you serious?” while<br />
laughing hysterically. “You’re wearing the same jeans I bought you five years ago!”<br />
Ross looked down and smiled as he reached for her suitcase. “We have to hurry back to the<br />
apartment,” he said as they walked briskly along Diamond Street past the nail salons and coffee<br />
shops. “I’m picking up some new furniture today.” He explained that he had “moved into this new<br />
place a few days ago and—” As he spoke, she interrupted him.<br />
“Let me guess,” she said. “You’ve been living without furniture, right?” Without giving him the<br />
opportunity to answer, she jabbed at Ross in a way that few people could. “You’re so cheap.”<br />
As they walked, Julia seemed ready to burst at the seams with excitement about the weekend<br />
ahead. Ross had a slight edge to him but listened as Julia asked questions about San Francisco and<br />
how much he must love it here. “I’m not sure moving to San Francisco was the best idea,” he<br />
lamented, though he didn’t elaborate further.<br />
After a few blocks they came upon the three-story clapboard house where Ross lived. They<br />
climbed to the top floor and he gave her the two-cent tour. Then Julia sat and watched for the next<br />
thirty minutes as Ross and his new roommate lugged an old dresser, a desk, and a bed frame up into<br />
Ross’s bedroom—all furniture he’d purchased from someone on the street a few hours earlier. When<br />
the move was complete, he thanked his roommate, closed the door, and made love to Julia on his new<br />
bed.<br />
As they lay there afterward, Ross seemed distant to Julia, but she assumed he was just tired, or<br />
that the newness of their old relationship had made him nostalgic. “I’m hungry,” she said to him as she<br />
got up and put her clothes back on.
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