I looked at my mom, my face a silent question.
She set her book down and stood, smiling at me with zero apology.
Demi waved her goodbyes and made a beeline for the door, clearly hoping to slip past me.
Not happening. I reached out and caught her hand.
“Please stop,” I begged.
She froze but didn’t turn around. Yet, she didn’t pull away. If anything, her fingers curled tighter around mine. Our connection was as strong as ever. Her touch instantly eased the void inside me.
“I’ve been wanting to talk to you. How are you?”
I’d tried yesterday during her interview to find out how she was feeling, but she’d sidestepped every question. She’d barely reacted when I brought up Cassie and Jonas. Even they were flippant about it—like it wasn’t a big deal that one minute Jonas was singing a love song, my love song, to Demi and the next he was groping Cassie every chance he got.
I didn’t know what to make of it.
“Fine. Just fine,” she said breathlessly.
“How can you be fine?”
I wasn’t. It gutted me to know that in ten days she would cease to exist—to our world, to my world. There was nothing fine about that.
“I just need you to know I’m still trying to help you.”
“I know,” she sighed, pulling away. “Goodbye, Roman.”
I didn’t like her tone. It sounded too final.
She walked through the door, and I called after her.
“We still have ten days.”
Even as the words left my mouth, I knew how flat they sounded.
Mom sidled up to me. “You should go after her.”
Every part of me was screaming to, but . . . “I can’t.”
“Why?”
“You know why.” I collapsed in the chair nearest me and watched Junie as she cartwheeled around the small lawn. Her form was almost perfect.
“How often has Demi come over?” I asked, more to myself than to Mom.
She sat beside me, calm as ever. “Almost every day for the last week or so.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” I grumbled.
“Because she didn’t think you’d like it. And I think she just wants to be herself for as long as she can. Remember that once she was a gymnast and made people smile.”
I scrubbed a hand over my beard, feeling more like a jerk than ever.
Not only had I failed to make good on my promise to help her, but I’d made her feel like she meant so little to me that she had to sneak around just to see my family. At a time when she was probably feeling vulnerable. When her best friendand ex-boyfriend were—who knew what. Lovers? Were they even trying to help her?
“It’s just hard for me to be around her.”
Mom took my hand.
