Chapter 12: Breakfast With Danica

I let it ring out, and Danica called again.

The third time, I answered in the bathroom with the door shut.

"Marin." Her voice was thick from crying. "Please don't hang up. I'm in the lobby."

"How do you know where I am?"

"Troy has the hotel booking. He told me the name."

"He told you."

"I came to say I'm sorry. Please. Ten minutes."

I put my forehead against the cool tile.

"Give me twenty," I said. "Order a coffee."

Elias was awake when I came out.

He lay on his side with one arm under the pillow, watching me pull my jeans on.

"Danica," I said.

"The friend who sent the letter."

"Do you want me to come down?"

"No," I said. "But I want you close."

He thought about it.

"I'll be at the bar with a newspaper," he said. "You won't see me unless you look."

I looked, once, from the restaurant doorway.

He sat on a stool at the end of the bar, reading the paper with great attention, and he did not look up.

Danica sat in a booth by the window with a coffee she hadn't touched.

Her auburn hair was flat on one side, and her eyes were swollen.

The butterfly clip was still in it.

"Marin," she said, standing.

"Sit."

She sat.

I slid into the seat across from her and put the necklace on the table, where she could see it.

"I didn't mean for it to go this far," Danica said. "I swear."

"You sent him my offer letter."

She opened her mouth and closed it.

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