Three, Two, One, I'm Gone novel · Chapter 15 of 24

Chapter 15: The Last Coffee

Delia's POV

I woke in Wade's bed with sunlight across the sheets and his arm over my waist.

He was already awake, looking at me.

"It's daylight," I said.

"It is."

"My clothes are on the floor."

"They are."

"So I'm telling you, with nothing else in my head." I turned over to face him. "I'm done being careful."

His eyes closed for a second.

"Say it again after Gran's party next Saturday," he said. "I want it to be true when nobody's left who can take it from you."

"She's invited Grant on purpose, isn't she?"

"Yes. She wants him there to hear what she has to say."

I nodded into the pillow, and then I told him.

"He texted me. He wants to meet alone at eleven. I said yes."

Wade sat up.

"He called me three times last night," he said. "I didn't answer."

"Do you want me not to go?"

"I want you to do what you want." He rubbed his eyebrow. "Record it. Sit by the window. If you want out, text me a code."

"Which code?"

"Chair," he said.

I kissed him, and I took that code with me.

The cafe was three blocks from my building, with a front window and a corner booth.

Grant was in the booth.

He wore yesterday's shirt, and his hair had not been combed, and his hands were wrapped around a cup he had not drunk from.

I sat across from him and put my phone on the table with the screen up.

"It's recording," I said. "I told you I would."

"I said no recorder."

"I didn't agree."

He looked at the phone and then at me, and something in his face gave way.

"Okay," he said. "Okay. Maybe that's fair."

"Say what you came to say."

"The game was Paige's idea."

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