The Photo Said I Must Die novel · Chapter 21 of 24

Chapter 21: Switched Back

I did not touch the glass in front of me.

I looked at it for as long as it took my heart to slow down.

The wine was pale and clear.

At the bottom of the bowl there was a faint chalky cloud.

Nobody else could have seen it, because nobody else was looking.

Briana had picked up her camera and was turning it over in her hands.

"Do you remember Mom taking this to the lake?" she said. "You were four. You wouldn't put your face in the water."

"I remember."

"You held on to my neck the whole time."

"Briana," I said, "look. Oliver's standing up."

She turned.

At the far end of the terrace Oliver had risen from his chair, as I had asked him to if I touched my ear.

I touched my ear.

He had a hundred people between him and us, and he lifted one hand and called her name across the boards.

"Briana!"

It carried over the band and the lanterns.

She stared down the length of the terrace at him, and her lips parted.

I reached out and swapped the glasses.

It took less than a second.

I put the wine in front of her and the water in front of me, and I put my hands in my lap.

My palms were soaked.

When she turned back, I was smiling.

"He wants to say goodbye," I said. "You should go to him."

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