Chapter 16: Her Rules

Jo's POV

Chantal rang the buzzer at six on Wednesday evening, and Lila answered it with a wooden spoon in her hand.

"Absolutely not," Lila said into the speaker.

"Please," said the speaker.

"You posted my sister's body on the internet."

"I deleted it. I'm standing here with a coffee. Can I come up?"

I took the spoon out of Lila's hand.

"Let her up," I said.

"Jo."

"She said please. It's the first time I've ever heard it."

Chantal came through the door in a plain black coat with no makeup on, holding a paper cup with a lid.

She looked at the kitchen, the borrowed couch, the stack of Lila's textbooks, and my headphones on the arm of the chair.

"Nice place," she said.

"It belongs to a sophomore with three roommates," Lila said. "Don't touch the hummus."

"There's a very big man downstairs holding a latte," Chantal said. "He tried to hand it to me."

I kept my face still.

"He's been there since yesterday," Lila said. "He's got a rotation. Coffee, then a muffin, then a different coffee."

"Is this a siege?"

"It's an apology," I said. "He hasn't figured out that it's a bad one."

"I took the latte," Chantal admitted. "It's good."

Lila snorted, and then covered her mouth, and I felt something loosen in my chest for the first time in two days.

We sat down at the kitchen table, the three of us, with the folder of notes between the salt and the pepper.

Chantal turned the paper cup around and around in her hands.

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