When did that happen?
"Cody," she says, breathless. "What are you doing here?"
"Are you allowed to be out and about?" she asks, which is the wrong question delivered in the wrong order. She's buying herself seconds to compose. "Shouldn't you be resting?"
"Why? Are you hiding something?" I ask flatly.
Her eyes widen for exactly one second before she pulls it back. "What?"
I let my eyes move down her body. The tension in her shoulders. The way she's standing slightly sideways in the doorframe instead of fully opening the door.
"Who were you talking to?"
"I just got off the phone with Maeve." She sounds like she's finally found her footing. "She wanted to know how last night went."
I pause. "And how did it go?"
She starts turning red. "It was good."
"Just good?"
She watches me. "You're alive, and we had a date. It doesn't get better than that."
I walk past her into the room.
She turns to follow me with her eyes, but doesn't move from the door. I walk slowly. Taking inventory. The unmade bed. The coat on the floor.
"And still," I say, looking out her window at the parking lot below. "You're hiding things from me."
"I'm not hiding anything."
"I know about the laptop, Adela."
She stills, not saying a word.
Smart girl.
"Julian told me."
Her mouth opens and closes. Her eyes stay alert, watching me the way she's been watching me since the hospital.
"What did he tell you?"
I turn around and lean against her desk and cross my arms. "The entire thing." I look at her. "So you've been keeping a little secret all to yourself, I see."
"You're still recovering from a horrible thing that happened to you." Her voice is careful. "Your dad said—"
I shake my head and smile. "That's the thing. You think you're playing a role to protect me."
Her eyes hold mine.
"But instead you're lying."
"I didn't know what else I was supposed to do."
"Give me the laptop."
She drops her hands. "Why do you care so much about the laptop?"
