Chapter 22: Say It Badly

Ginny's POV

The coffee shop was the one on Halsted where Mallory had met Willem on a Sunday, and I picked it on purpose.

I got there at nine and took the table by the window.

Mallory came in at nine-oh-two in a new coat.

It was red, with a belt, and it was open.

She stopped at the door and stood there until I waved her over.

"Did you buy that?" I said.

"The day after the Drake. I wore the other one to the donation bin and cried a little."

"It's good."

"It's too bright," she said. "I feel like a fire hydrant."

She sat down across from me and took a stack of index cards out of her bag.

She squared them on the table.

"I wrote this down," she said.

"I can see that."

"It's four minutes. I timed it in the mirror."

"Of course you did."

She cleared her throat and started to read.

It was good.

It was very good.

She talked about her loyalty and her fear and her mistakes, and she used the phrase "I own that" twice, and the word "unconditionally" once.

Somewhere around card three I stopped hearing her and started watching her fingers, which were white at the tips.

She ended on a line about honoring our friendship, and she looked up.

The barista put two lattes down between us and left without a word.

"That's a beautiful speech," I said.

"Thank you."

"I'm not accepting it."

Her face fell so fast that I almost took it back.

"I'm not saying no to you," I said. "I'm saying no to the cards. You wrote a lawyer a letter. I don't want the letter."