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PROLOGUE
“There's nowhere you can be that isn't where you're meant to be...”
?John Lennon
DECLAN
“Two breakfast specials, Beatrice, and add some love in it.” Liam winked at the older Irish woman who was refilling our coffees. He leaned into the booth at the Eastside Diner, while the rain that was beating against the window beside us covered all of Chicago under a dark cloud. Beatrice shook her head at him and called him a player in Irish before she took our order and left.
“You didn’t sleep last night,” Liam stated and I knew he was fishing.
“I’m fine—”
“You screamed for help.” He frowned. “Dad stood outside your door—”
I matched his expression. “I’ll tell him to stop doing that. Really, there’s no need. I’m fine. The nightmares aren’t as bad as they once were. You know that.” Sometimes I felt like a freak in this family. Couldn’t I just go to sleep for once without it being some sort of horror show?
“If you need—”
“I don’t. I’m fine. Drop it, Liam.”
He said nothing more and drank his coffee in silence.
Staring out the window, I found myself watching the rain. This summer had been the rainiest so far, making Chicago feel more like Seattle on some days, but worse because of the wind. I was just about to turn away when I saw a woman fighting with a broken umbrella. Because of the wind, her purse flew right off of her shoulder, and all of its contents spilled onto the ground. For some reason, I sat up as if to help her, but she gathered everything quickly and ran inside the diner for shelter. The chime of the bell above the door marked her entry to safe, dry ground.
“Dad said we’re going out to the club tonight.” Liam changed the subject but I couldn’t look away from her as she shook the water off of her hands.
She was soaked through and through, and the green blouse she wore, along with her tight, dark jeans, clung to her body and accentuated her every curve. Her dark hair stuck to her brown face, as the rain dripped from her seductive lips. She fought with her yellow umbrella as her brown eyes glared at it in frustration.
She’s beautiful.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” she exclaimed and looked at her watch.
Was she late?
“What are you looking at?”
“Huh?” I glimpsed back to Liam.
He stared at me before turning back to look at her. She was muttering quickly and I smirked when she laughed at herself in annoyance. I couldn’t look away from her.
“Why are you smiling at that woman?”
“Huh?”
“That is the second ‘huh’ you’ve given me in the last minute. What did she do, steal your brain?”
“Shut up.” I scowled at him as I reached for the sugar and poured it into my cup.
She shook her umbrella as if she were going to strangle it, and I found I couldn’t look away from her, once again.
“Please work. Please.” She begged it.
Did she know we could all see her?
“Don’t you think that’s enough?”
“Huh?”
He chuckled as he nodded towards the sugar in my hands. Peeking down, I saw the mountain that had formed on the top of my drink. Dropping the sugar back on the table, I furtively snuck a peek at her; she was in her own little world.
Seriously, what the fuck was wrong with me?
“There’s an umbrella behind you,” Liam stated, still grinning as I reached behind me for it.
“Aye!” the younger freckled faced boy said as I grabbed it.
I glared at him and he swallowed slowly as he let go. “Sorry, sir, I ain’t know it was you.”
“No problem,” I muttered as I stood up and fixed my jacket. Ignoring Liam’s snickers, I walked towards her.
Why the hell was I nervous?
The closer I got, the more beautiful she became. She bit her full lips in determination.
“Do you need—?”
“Yes!” she almost screamed in victory as her umbrella finally opened properly.
She grinned so widely that it was contagious and I found myself smiling too. Putting the umbrella behind my back, I tried to speak to her, but without even glancing back at me, she ran out of the diner and onto the street as quickly as possible. Within moments, her yellow umbrella disappeared into the crowd and I helplessly took a step forward, as though I were going to chase after her, but that was insane.
“Move faster next time, brother.” Liam draped his arm around my shoulder. “Too bad though. She was really hot.”
I shrugged him off, more annoyed with myself than with him, because he was right—I’d been too slow.
“I will be quicker next time,” I whispered, still staring at the crowd she’d disappeared into.
I had to see her again.
ONE
“Their eyes met. It had begun. They had begun.”
?Alexander Potter
CORALINE
Sometimes…well most times, I felt as though everyone else was doing amazing things with their lives, while I was stuck on the sidelines. When I was twelve, I told myself, ‘Just wait until I you’re sixteen, then the fun will start.’ At sixteen, I said I couldn’t wait for my eighteenth birthday because then my life would surely begin. Before I knew it, it was my twenty-first birthday. And now I that I was twenty-three, I’d all but given up. Yes, I was still young, but I was weird; I hated alcohol—no matter how many drinks I’d tried, they all tasted like ash to me. On top of that, large crowds made me nervous, so I was officially a buzzkill to all my friends, or I was always the one assigned to be the designated driver. I preferred to stay home unless I had to go to school, church, the bank, or to buy groceries, clothes or books. That was my life. It was made up of six places.
I’d officially graduated from Stanford three days ago and I moved back home to start working at my father’s bank. Now that I was back in Chicago for the first time in four years, I’d made a resolve to try and go out again. I needed more than just six places.
Standing in front of my mirror, I curled the ends of my dark hair before I fixed my red lipstick. Then, I took a step back and smoothed out my dress.
“Can I borrow these?”
Turning, I saw my cousin, Imani, standing at my bathroom door with my brand new Brian Atwood heels in her hand.
“Imani—”
“Cora, you’re like 5’9. Why do you really need heels this high? Please? Thank you!” And just like that, she was gone.
“Imani!” I yelled after her even though I knew it was no use. Whatever Imani wanted, she took.
She was only a year younger than me, but I felt like she lived a total different life than I did. While I lived in six places, Imani’s world was infinite. She and I were opposites. While I was tall, dark, and all boobs, she was short, caramel skinned, and had an ass for days. Last time we’d gone out, I was literally pushed to the curb while two guys tried to ask her out.
“Ah!” I hissed, forgetting that the curling iron was still hot. Running my finger under the cold water for a moment, I turned off the iron and headed into my closet to find another pair of shoes to wear.
I ran my hand over all of my clothes and purses—all of which ranged from Prada to Alexander McQueen—and I took a seat in the middle of it all. Whenever I came into my closet, I knew that I shouldn’t complain about anything. Even though both of my parents were gone, they had left me wanting for nothing for the rest of my life.
