The People We Keep

April walks into Cafe Decadence and inquires about the job with the barista, Bodie. While she waits for her interview, she is drawn to a bulletin board with neon flyers. There are a multitude of jobs and opportunities listed and even some personal ads. April is once again shocked by the differences between Little River and Ithaca when she reads an ad about a man looking for sex with someone who identifies as agnostic (a word April doesn’t understand).

A woman named Carly interviews and hires April because April won’t be going home for Thanksgiving. Carly will train her personally. Before April leaves, she has to fill out an application but finds that she cannot complete most of the form because she has no address. She does, however, write down her experience at Margo’s Diner, recognizing how essential her time there was.

After April leaves Cafe Decadence, she passes a guitar store and feels the ache that her destroyed guitar has left inside her. She is in awe of the many guitars, but the steep prices turn her away. Before heading back to the campsite, April calls Margo from a pay phone and learns that while Margo has not yet convinced her father to let April be, she has bought her a few extra days. Margo also tells April about Matty and how heartbroken he is. Although April’s heart beats at the mention of his name, she won’t call him. On her way back to her car, April thinks about the different lives of the students at the local colleges and notices an unused car covered up in a driveway.

Back at the campsite, April tries and fails to build a fire. Instead, she falls asleep and wakes later that night to a deep cold. She walks back into Ithaca and passes a house party being thrown by college students. She is invited in by a boy she dubs Lion Boy and takes advantage of her time indoors. She spends some time with Lion Boy, making out and playing his guitar. When he falls asleep, April takes her first warm shower in days and takes two rolls of quarters from Lion Boy. She then slips out of the house to walk back to the campsite.

April stops at the car she noticed earlier and uses a screwdriver to take the license plates off. She plans to change the plates on Irene’s stolen car to buy herself more time without being noticed. As she is unscrewing the plates, she remembers stepping on a rusty nail while she and her father were removing nails from scrap wood. It went into her foot and needed to be removed at the hospital. She was afraid that her father would yell at her, but he surprised her by quickly taking her to the hospital and comforting her throughout the scary ordeal.

April wakes to find a note on her windshield reminding her that she has to vacate the campsite the following day. The need for a new home is on April’s mind as she works her first day at Cafe Decadence. She learns the ins and outs of the job from Carly and develops a rapport with Bodie, who calls her Pilgrim after the joke: “April showers bring May flowers, but what do Mayflowers bring?” (83). While April enjoys her lunch, a man joins her at her table and introduces himself as Adam. He seems to be in his thirties, and as they chat she reveals that she has been staying at the campground. While he has been nothing but kind to her, April is wary of his offer to stay with him. She politely refuses and heads back to work, wondering if dropping hints to her coworkers about needing a place to stay would work.

April wakes the next morning to the park ranger telling her that she needs to leave by 9:00am. April fits seamlessly into her role at Cafe Decadence and earns Carly’s respect quickly, but despite the comfort this brings, April still worries about where she will stay that night. Due to a cancellation by another employee, April ends up staying for a double shift with Carly. Adam comes into the coffee shop later in the day with a woman. They work together, comparing notes, and after she leaves, Adam tells April that she is a client he is helping to build a barn. Adam once again offers his place to stay and once again April refuses. As the night progresses, April learns more about Adam through Carly. He is a townie and Carly has nothing bad to say about him. He stays in Cafe Decadence until close and even walks out with Carly and April. He once again makes an offer to April, but she declines and makes a run for her car.

April gets to her car and wonders where to sleep. Before she makes a decision, Adam appears and offers her food. He convinces April to at least sleep in her car in front of his house. April drives them to his house and she follows him inside to use the bathroom before. Once inside, April becomes comfortable in the warmth and kisses Adam. Adam rebuffs her and lets her know that he will be in his room and that she will have the whole house to herself. April stays and leaves as soon as she wakes the next morning. Adam finds her at Cafe Decadence and explains that he only offered his home because he too was once unhoused. Before he leaves, he offers her a key and tells her to use it whenever she needs.

Later that same day, April takes advantage of the key and goes to Adam’s house to shower during her lunch break. While there, she listens to his music collection and learns more about him. She has to run back to Cafe Decadence before her lunch break ends, but April is “warm and clean and fed and happy” for the first time since she left home (108). She begins forming positive associations with Adam’s house.

Adam comes into Cafe Decadence at a quarter to six, and he and April share a bowl of Bodie’s mac and cheese. He reveals that he was unhoused due to a fight with his father. April relates to this and begins to trust him more as they walk back to his house. They talk for much of the night, learning about each other and bonding. April finds him very different from other men she has known—calmer and more trustworthy. However, she does not tell him everything about her life, hiding much of what led her to be in Ithaca. As the night lengthens, the two kiss. April tries to take it further, but Adam stops them from moving past kissing. April is confused, but they end up sharing the bed for the night.

The next morning April and Adam wake and share a kiss. Adam again stops before it progresses. It becomes apparent that they are entering into a relationship, as April becomes comfortable with the plans they made for that night. As they approach Cafe Decadence holding hands, Adam offers her his key again and lets her go in first so no one will suspect they are together.

When April enters Cafe Decadence, she finds it in chaos. Bodie is at the helm and has been flirting with a customer, slowing the store down. April takes over and gets the shop under control. Carly arrives, having grabbed more coffee, and is relieved to find that April has taken over. April takes Adam’s order, and while she enjoys the smile he gives her, she can’t help but wish that Bodie was flirting with her.

April officially moves in with Adam but is confused that they are not having sex. With Matty, sex was central to the relationship, and April wonders if she is doing something wrong with Adam. April is growing more confident and comfortable with Adam and enjoys the stability that he brings to her life. However, she finds herself trapped by her lies. She cannot tell him about her age and background because then he would have to leave her because of the age difference; if he was fine with the age gap, he would reveal himself to be the opposite of the caring person she sees him as.

April has her weekly call with Margo and learns that her father is hurt. Margo sent her boyfriend to speak with her father, and her father agreed that if April can be independent she can keep the car. This is bittersweet for April, as she realizes that her father doesn’t care enough to come for her. Margo also shares that Gary brought some of his friends with him and bad blood boiled over. After the call, April buys a get-well card for her father and sends it with Ithaca as the postmark. She no longer cares if he knows where she is, as he’s proven he doesn’t care.

April is able to leave work early one day, and she and Adam go hiking. They hike to Taughannock Falls, and Adam tells April that he thinks he’s falling in love with her. On their way home, they stop at the store to buy food so that Adam can cook dinner. While Adam cooks, April realizes that this must be what a home feels like. She is comfortable, safe, and loved in ways that she has never been before. April feels vulnerable and finally shares her love of the guitar and its importance to her. She is relieved to have found someone that she trusts enough to be this open with.

Adam asks April to spend Christmas with him. April has never had a Christmas tree but knows that her dad supplied one to Irene and her son. She and Adam get a Christmas tree, and as they bring it up the stairs, April dents the wall. Adam responds by saying that the dent is “part of our history” (138). Adam asserts confidently that he loves April and April responds in kind. This leads them to have sex for the first time, and April finds it distinctly different from sex with Matty for April—more real and meaningful.

Afterwards, they discuss how right they feel with each other, and Adam shares more of his past. He tells her about being sexually assaulted by his stepmother; when his father found out, he sided with his wife and kicked Adam out of the house. Ever since this happened, Adam has struggled with sex, which led to the dissolution of his last relationship. April recognizes the gravity of this revelation and commits to keeping up the lies she has told to preserve the stability of the relationship.

To make the lies she’s told Adam a reality, April uses Bodie’s colored pencils to alter her driver’s license to say that she is 19.

April notices that Carly is acting strangely at work and seems to have been crying. When someone named Rosemary calls for Carly at Cafe Decadence, Carly breaks down and April brings her to Adam’s house. Carly tells April that Rosemary is her ex-girlfriend. Rosemary wanted Carly to come out because “she couldn’t be with anyone who wasn’t out” (147). Scared to lose her, Carly told her parents and was disowned by them. This led to her and Rosemary splitting up.

Carly and Rosemary were living together, so Carly stays with Adam and April while looking for a new apartment. During these few days, April and Carly develop a strong friendship based on the support that April gives her. Carly sees April’s relationship with Adam and approves. When Adam finds a place for Carly to rent, April accompanies her to Rosemary’s apartment to collect her belongings. While there, April pretends to be Carly’s new love interest, making Rosemary jealous and angry.

As Carly heals from the breakup, life at Cafe Decadence continues on as normal. One day, April announces that she wants a tattoo. Carly, who has many, agrees to accompany her to the parlor, and Bodie designs a flower for April to get. In the chair, April backs out of getting a tattoo and instead chooses an emerald nose ring for her birth month of May. Afterwards, April receives compliments from Adam and Bodie, both of whom make her blush.

April agrees to go to a local concert with Carly; it will be Carly’s first night out since the breakup with Rosemary. April goes to Carly’s new apartment, and Carly helps her to get ready, causing April to realize that Carly is like a sister—something April has always craved. When Carly and April arrive at the venue, April’s license is put to the test by the bouncer and passes. The concert is punk rock, a style of music April is not a fan of, but April makes repeated eye contact with the guitarist, who throws her his pick. Carly is both ecstatic and jealous of her and pulls her into the bathroom to explain what happened. While they chat, Rosemary enters and spills the contents of April’s purse on the ground. After a feigned attempt to help is waved off, Rosemary leaves.

April and Carly leave the venue and go to the campground, where they start a campfire. Carly discusses seeing her friends at the concert; they have obviously chosen Rosemary. Carly and April discuss what it takes to feel like they belong, and April sees the same pain in Carly that she recognizes in herself. However, they both agree that they feel right with each other, demonstrating to April that Carly indeed trusts her and values her companionship. The two seal their friendship by jumping into the freezing lake. Carly says that both of them have had too many of the wrong people in their lives and that they deserve to have the right people instead.

On Christmas Eve, April goes to the store to buy food for her Christmas dinner with Adam. When she collects the necessities and gets in the checkout line, she realizes that she does not have her wallet in her purse. April breaks down sobbing from the embarrassment and has to leave without any of the food she collected. She realizes that she did not lose her wallet by chance.

April arrives at Rosemary’s apartment, knowing that she must have taken her wallet in the bathroom at the concert. Rosemary gives April her wallet back, but not before revealing that she knows April’s secret. Rosemary has washed away the fake date on her license and threatens to reveal April’s age. Rosemary thinks that Carly and April are dating and blames April for preventing her and Carly from reuniting.

April rushes back to Adam’s house and packs her belongings. She will flee Ithaca before her secret is revealed and ruins Adam’s life. She leaves Adam a note reading, “I love you always, April” (179). As she looks for his jacket to take with her, she finds a guitar meant to be her Christmas gift. She takes it and leaves her mother’s ring in exchange, adding to the note, “I hope this is enough” (179). With everything she needs to make an escape, she tears herself away from the home she built with Adam.

Before leaving Ithaca, April makes one final stop at Cafe Decadence for her check and tips. She tries to sneak in through the alley and runs into Bodie. Bodie grabs her check for her and he asks if she is alright, noticing that she is obviously not doing well. She lies that she’s fine and kisses Bodie as a final farewell. She runs to her car, but before she can get there, Carly catches up. Carly insists that April tell her what is going on, saying that they can fix it together, but April is not as certain. She asks Carly to look after Adam for her and leaves the only true friend she has ever had.