“No!” she screams, and her voice cracks. I imagine me and Jess and Salem and Tegan as those compass points I first pictured on Jess’s porch. When Tegan’s voice cracks that way, I’m pretty sure the thin dome of glass that’s been covering all of us cracks too.
I’m pretty sure we’ll never find our way again.
“No,” she repeats, quieter now. “I’ve heard everything I need to hear.”
She turns to Jess, and her chin trembles slightly before she firms it.
“You were right,” she says. “You were right this whole time, and I didn’tlisten.”
Jess looks as if she might be sick.
“It’s okay, Teeg. It’s fine; it’s—”
“You never forgave me for leaving with Brent, I know that,” Charlotte says to Jess. “But with Lynton, it was a different situation. It—”
“You don’t speak to her,” I say, before I can stop myself, before I can remind myself that I promised I wouldn’t interfere. My voice sounds unfamiliar to my own ears. Like I’m talking through the cracked glass of the broken compass that’s been shoved down my throat. “You don’t speak to her, ever.”
If Jess is watching me, reacting to me, I don’t know it. I’m staring down at Charlotte Caulfield and it probably looks as if I’m one word from putting a strip of duct tape over her mouth. But I’m not trying to intimidate her, watching her this way. I’m just memorizing every part of her face that’s different from Jess’s. I’m making it so I never have to connect the two of them in my mind ever again.
“I want to go,” Tegan says, her voice thick. “We’ll get a ride share. Let’sgo, Jess.”
It’s this that gets me to blink away from Charlotte, and I move toward Jess and Tegan again. I’m not letting them take a fucking ride share out of here, I’m not.
But Tegan holds up a hand, halting me. She looks between me and Salem, who’s still sitting at the table, wet hands clasped, struck dumb or possibly thrilled to pieces about this dramatic turn of events.
“Every condition you have with us—you can forget about those now,” Tegan says. “You two can stay and talk to her if you want, ask her all your questions for the story. But we’re going.”
I don’t know how to describe it, what happens to the air in the room. It’s not so quick as being sucked away. It’s a slow leak. The oxygen getting thinner and thinner. Tegan doesn’t realize it, but she’s revealed something new to her mother.
Charlotte’s gaze sharpens as she looks first at Jess, and then at me. “I thought you were her boyfriend.”
Dread gathers in my gut—an indistinct warning. I don’t know exactly what’s coming from this, but I know it’s going to be bad.
“He works for me,” Salem says, probably thinking she’s coming to the rescue. “Well, I suppose that might mean something different to you, given our conversation, so I’ll clarify. He is also a journalist.”
Charlotte tips her head back up to Jess. I guess she’s forgotten my warning.
“Your boyfriend is doing a story on me?”
“That isn’t—” I begin, but Jess snaps out, at the same time, “He’s not my boyfriend.”
I’ll admit, it stings. But it’s a wincing, insignificant thing, because I know what she’s doing. I know she’s trying to protect herself, and maybe me, too. The problem is, it’s so clearly a lie. Her neck splotches pink, and I see Charlotte notice it.
The dread gains a new urgency in my middle.
I must make a noise. A grunt, a growl, I don’t know. Whatever it is, Charlotte rethinks directly addressing Jess. She looks at Salem instead.
“Did he talk her into finding me? Into coming all this way?” she asks. “Did he talk her into being part of some story about her famously disappearing mother?”
“No,” I grind out, but I don’t know if it’s even audible. It’s almost impossible to speak past that looming, dreadful feeling now.
Charlotte looks back at me. “Did you meet her before or after you knew she might have something to do with the Lynton Baltimore story?”
Salem says, “Look, this is not—”
“Don’t say anything else,” Jess interrupts. “Don’t say anything else to her about me. She getsnothingelse.”
“You know, I always thought Jessie was the most like me,” Charlotte says to Salem, as though Jess hasn’t even uttered a word, as though she’s on an entirely solo interview now. “Not just in looks! But she has a heart like mine. I could always recognize it in her. I always knew that when she fell for someone, she’d be like me about it. She’d do just about anything.”
