"Liv."
"It was a girls' night. At Merrily's place. I brought cider. We..." she looked over her shoulder, at the door again, as I led her deeper into the house. "You have a dish towel."
"Your sink was full of dishes."
"I changed the passcode." She was talking about the door.
"It wasn't difficult to figure out the new one." I'd guessed it on the third try. She preferred patterns over numbers. "You texted me but didn't answer your phone. I wasn't going to wait until you decided to explain."
"Thought I deleted that," she muttered. "Didn't mean to hit send.
"Is it true?"
"Which one did you get?"
I eased her into one of the barstools we'd picked out together. It felt like a lifetime ago. A much happier lifetime ago.
When I handed her my phone, standing beside her, she read the messages she'd sent.
Three words in the first. Five in the second.
Liv
I believe you
I'm trying to, at least.
"Is it true?" I asked again, still fighting to keep my cool.
She set the phone down and lowered her face to the countertop. "I'm too sleepy for this."
"You just jogged three fucking miles. In the dark. Alone."
"I can protect myself," she said into the countertop. "I still have magic."
"Magic that might accidentallyenergizesomeone."
"Only Jonah."
"Fuck Jonah. You shouldn't be running home in the middle of the night after drinking cider. So talk."
"I'm tired, and my magic is driving me crazy, and I'm suddenly starving."
"I'll order pizza." I would beg if she wanted me to. The levels I would descend for this woman were fuckingmadness.
"They're probably closed."
"It's not midnight yet. The place you like on Colland street is still open."
"I hate that you know my favorite places," she mumbled into the countertop.
"I hate that you're not mine anymore."
Liv peeled her face off the counter, leaning back against the chair and staring at me.
"Is it true?" I repeated. "You believe me?"
She nodded. "You have no reason to lie to me anymore."
