His physical body felt like a meatsuit compared to the lightness he had just known.

You know while I was here working my buns off he was out somewhere playing the hot-shot.

“Shit.” Jayavickrama pinched the bridge of his nose, squeezing his eyes shut. “What’s the situ there?”

Decades ago, before credit scores, loan officers could make decisions almost whimsically and your fate could hinge on whether you reminded them of someone, or they had slept poorly the night before, or they harbored stereotypes of shiftless blacks and flighty women.