Chapter 12: The Rule

I went back to 3B and sat on my bed in the dark for two hours.

Through the wall I could hear Chad's television and Lacey's voice, soft and cheerful, saying goodnight to somebody.

At a quarter to one, I opened my door and went out onto the landing.

Emmett was sitting on the top stair in his shirtsleeves.

His breath showed in the air.

There was no coat beside him, no mug, and no book.

He was just sitting there with his forearms on his knees, facing my door.

"How long?" I said.

"Since you went in."

"It's freezing out here."

"I noticed."

"Emmett."

"I know." He didn't stand. "I know what you said."

"You said nobody waits for anyone at your table."

"I did."

"That was the rule."

"It was." He looked up at me. "I've been breaking it since the day you sat on my mat. I just never told you."

I stood there in my socks and my sweatpants and my shirt, with my arms wrapped around myself.

For four years I had waited for people.

I had waited for dinners, for apologies, for a text back, for somebody to notice I was gone.

Not one of them had ever sat on a cold stair for me.

"You should have told me about her," I said.

"Yes."

"If anything else comes up, anything, you tell me the same day."

"The same hour," he said. "I swear it."

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