“Are you ready for this?” Eden asks, her voice falsely bright with bravado. “Because I’m down for kicking some serious Keane butt.”
“You’re never there,” I say. “In the room.”
“Well, we’re going to change that, aren’t we. We’re going to change all of it.”
I wipe under my eyes and nod, but I don’t feel it. Nothing is going to change. I push my sunglasses back over my face and hold out my hand. We’ve agreed it’s best to avoid being recognized for as long as possible. I have to pretend to be sighted.
I’m expecting Eden’s hand, but it’s Cole’s fingers that twine with mine. I let out a breath of exhausted laughter.
“What?” he asks.
It’s his hand. There’s no doubt. I don’t know how there ever was any. “In case it changes, or we all die or something, I want you to know that I’m going to fall in love with you.”
He’s quiet, and I wonder how I can worry about something this silly right now, but I’m afraid he’ll take his hand back. “Sorry. Was that weird?” I try to smile, but Cole’s right. I can’t smile when I don’t mean it.
He squeezes my fingers and traces his thumb along mine. “Actually, it’s a relief. Now I know you won’t knee me for doing this.”
He leans in and brushes his lips against mine. It’s not as desperate as the kiss on the bed. It’s a feather of a kiss, a promise of a kiss, and I hope with everything in me that it’s a promise we’ll be able to keep. I just don’t see how there is a future in which that will be possible now.
“Well then,” Eden says. “If no one’s going to kiss me, let’s get this show on the road.”
We walk through a door into the odorless air of a lobby. Cole doesn’t pause, walks confidently, and I do my best to match his pace.
“Excuse me, miss?”
I nearly freeze, but Cole pulls my hand, insistent and steady. I don’t stop.
“Yes?” Eden asks, and her voice is farther behind us than it should be.
“I’m going to need to see your ID.” The guy talking sounds apologetic.
“What for? I’ve never had to show it before.”
“Sorry. I don’t make the rules, I’m just the security guy.”
“So, what, you’re supposed to stop every black person that walks through here, because we couldn’t possibly belong in a fancy building? Could you be any more racist?”
“No, that’s not it at all! I only—”
“I want to speak to your supervisor.”
Cole stops, and then there’s a light ding. We step over the threshold of the elevator.
Eden isn’t with us.
Just like I knew she wouldn’t be.
The elevator slows and I take a deep breath—then there are lights, no, no, not again!
By the time Fia kills herself, I am leaning against Cole, barely standing.
“What are you doing here?” a voice hisses. I know this voice.
Cole speaks. “We’re here with Mr. Marino. It’s urgent.”
“You can’t lie to me! I know Annie.”
Please, Mae, I think. Fia’s going to die.