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Gage reached for her. “Ivy. Baby. Stop it. You know I love you. I would never—”
“Don’t say that!” Ivy cried, shoving him off of her. He hit the wall, and the painting over his head shimmied on its mount.
The Easton security team sprang into action. Two of the guards rousted themselves from their posts near the doors and started toward Ivy at a swift, but not panicked, pace.
“You’re such a liar, Gage,” Ivy seethed, her hands curled into fists at her sides. “You’re a liar and a slut and a cheat! I don’t know why I ever got back together with you!”
The painting tilted suddenly as one of its strings snapped. I gasped, but Ivy didn’t seem to notice.
“Ivy,” Gage implored.
“No! Just leave me alone, Gage! I hope you die.”
Just then, the second string snapped and the heavy painting plummeted. Half the dining hall gasped; the other half screamed.
“Gage! Look out!” I shouted.
Everything happened so quickly it was all a blur. Gage looked up, his eyes widened, and he staggered sideways just in time to keep from getting his face flattened, but the corner of the frame slammed into his shoulder. His head hit a chair as he went down and landed, sprawled on the floor, the frame half covering his face.
“Oh my God,” Ivy said, crouching next to him with her hands over her mouth. “Oh my God!”
“Miss, please. Step back.” The security officers had swooped down at the last second. One of them took Ivy’s arm and helped her to her feet. All around me people loud-whispered.
“Is he okay?”
“Could have broken his neck …”
“Why did it fall …?”
I ran over to Ivy and put my hand on her back, just as Josh arrived from the other direction, looking scared and tired, with dark circles under his eyes. Ivy buried her face in my shoulder as the security guard carefully moved the frame. There was a gash across Gage’s forehead and the blood had seeped onto the
floor. I swallowed back a surge of bile.
“Is he okay?” Ivy whimpered, tears streaming down her face as she looked up at me.
I didn’t answer. I wasn’t sure. The second guard leaned in toward Gage’s face, cocking his ear toward his lips.
“He’s breathing,” he said. “Call nine-one-one.” The other guard did as he was told and the first guard stood up. “Nobody touch him. It’s best if he’s not moved.”
“Oh my God, Reed, what did I do?” Ivy said quietly. “What did I—?”
“You didn’t do anything. It was an accident,” Josh said as I stroked her hair behind her ear.
“No, but … right before it happened, I imagined it happening,” she whispered furtively. “I saw it…. I wished the painting would fall down on his head.”
My blood stopped moving in my veins. I glanced at Josh and his eyes were wide. Ivy’s words still hung in my ears as Gage suddenly awoke and looked around. “What happened?” He touched his fingers to his forehead, then swooned when he saw the blood.
“Don’t move, son,” the guard said, dropping to his knees next to Gage. “You had a blow to the head.”
“See? He’s fine,” I told Ivy. “He’s gonna be fine.”
Before long, Gage sat up slowly with the help of the guards and was lifted into a chair. The entire dining hall breathed a sigh of relief, and there was a smattering of applause, like he was an injured football player who’d managed to limp off the field. Ivy took in a broken breath and nodded.
“Okay. Everything’s okay,” she said.
“Reed!”
We both jumped at the sound of my name. Rose and Kiki had just come in through the double doors. Kiki was dressed, but her hair was wet beneath her knit cap. Rose was still in her pink plaid flannel pajamas, her gray coat open and billowing around her.
