"Maybe you should talk to Frank," Scout said as she rubbed my head. We hadn't moved from my hotel bed and we were still naked and exhausted an hour after we were done.

"About what?"

"About you staying here."

"In New York?"

I was confused by that statement. Didn't she want me to stay? I would hate to think she regretted what we had just done. I shouldn't feel guilty if she does; she made it perfectly clear that she was ready and I didn't force her into doing anything. I would feel guilty though because as much as she's a woman now, a part of me will always remember her as the spunky little girl. It was then that I realized that toeing the line between having sex with the woman and remembering the little girl was going to be difficult.

"No," she ended up saying, to my great relief. "I mean stay in this hotel room. I think the way things are going you and I are going to be wanting to spend time together and it wouldn't be fair to Frank to always be popping in and out because of us."

"Where would I stay?"

"With me, of course!"

"You?"

"Where else?"

Her proposition had caught me off guard. I was happy to see that she was happy with me being in her life again and she still trusted me enough to get close to her. Yet on the other hand, was she going too far too soon? I can tell from the letter she wrote me not even two weeks ago that she was still bitter and hurt by what Hank had done to her. I then thought about Atticus and Jem, and then her aunt, and then of all of Maycomb. If that town is still as backwards as I think it is then the whole town would erupt with the news that she and I were living together in New York.

"So, do you want to?" She asked as she put her hand on my knee. I looked up and saw her big, blue eyes looking back at me. They almost looked like her childhood eyes again.

"Okay, sweetheart," I replied. She smiled big at me and I smiled big back at her. She kissed my lips and wrapped me into a hug. This was so nice.

"Hey, man," Frank knocked on the door. God, this is what Scout meant.

"I'm going to get dressed in the bathroom," she said as she flung her towel at me and walked away.

"Hold on," I said as I slipped on a pair of underwear and a t-shirt.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything," he said.

"You're not," I said as I finally opened the door for him. "Come in. I want to talk to you."

"You want to leave don't you?"

"Yes," I replied. "That's exactly what I was going to tell you."

"Man, I'm disappointed in you."

"You are?"

"Yeah, you go fuck your childhood chick and then you want to run away back to Venice. I thought you were better than that."

I stood there incredulously as I heard Scout laughing in the bathroom. At first I was mortified that Frank thought that of me but then I got to laughing because she was laughing. The look on Frank's face when he heard Scout laugh was priceless.

"She's still here?" He asked. You could tell he was embarrassed.

"Yeah and you've got it all wrong: I'm moving in with her. She offered for me to stay over there so you could have some peace around here."

"Oh," he said as he smiled. "Hey man, I'm happy for you. That girl really is a keeper so don't you fuck it up."

"I'll try my best not to. I'm just going to pack a few things and then leave with her, okay?"

"Okay?"

Frank had sat on the bed and watched me gather all my things. I was happy he was taking this so well and thought so highly of Scout, as he should. I knocked on the bathroom door to tell Scout I was ready and that was when Frank got up to kiss her and give her his well wishes. He wished me well too with a hug. I couldn't have thought of a better person than Frank to wave me and Scout goodbye.