Chapter 9: What Gran Said

I didn't scream.

I had thought I would, if I ever heard it said out loud.

I looked at Santino, at his good coat and his wet, handsome face, and what I felt was very small and very cold.

"Get out," I said.

"Tegan..."

"Get out of her house."

"It's my..."

"It's not." Rowan's voice came from behind my shoulder, low and level. "Out, Santino. Both of you."

Bailey moved first.

She set the aloe on the counter with a shaky hand, and she didn't look at me.

"Come on," she said to Santino. "Come on, he's right. Let her breathe."

Santino stared at me for a long moment.

"You'll be sorry Friday," he said.

"I won't."

They went out through the front door.

I heard the Honda's engine turn over and fade.

I stood with both hands on Gran's counter.

Rowan went to the front door and slid the bolt.

Then he came back and stood on the other side of the kitchen.

"Sit," he said.

"I can't."

"Then stand. But breathe."

I breathed.

It came out of me wrong, in pieces, and I put the heel of my good hand against my eyes.

"She asked for me," I said. "For a week. And I was in a lab, doing a titration."

"You didn't know."

"I should have known. She called me in December and I let it go to voicemail.

"She said she missed me. I said I'd come at spring break."

"Tegan."

"I let him tell me she was fine. For months, he said she was fine."

"Look at me."

I looked.

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