Jaylah dips her hip before placing one hand on it. The two of them are eyeing me with coy grins. I realize what they’re thinking and shake my head.
“What? No, no, I’m looking to see if she’s okay.”
“Why wouldn’t she be okay?” Jaylah asks.
I shake my head. “Nothing. Never mind.”
“Trouble in paradise,” I hear Danielle mumble as I walk off.
I head toward the hallway, glass walls framing the view on either side until I turn the corner. There is another long, narrow hallway, but no glass, just doors on one side and a wall of monotone art on the other. I wrestle with the options of giving Marley space or accepting that she may not be feeling what I’m feeling right now.
The hallway brings back memories of when Marley and I first met. At a mansion party, in a line to go to the restroom. There is a line now, waiting for people to relieve themselves, and I almost knock on the door to call out for Marley when it opens, and a man taller than me walks out. He gives me a weird look, and I hold my hands up.
“ My bad. I’m looking for someone.”
He looks me up and down before disappearing back towards the party. Maybe she made her way back to the party too. But there must be another bathroom somewhere. I continue on, heading towards the back and around another corner when I hear something that sounds like a faint sob.
There’s a room at the end of the hall with a door that isn’t completely shut. My curiosity keeps me in place, wrestling with whether I should go back or see if whoever is crying needs help. But then the weeping grows more unmistakable, and a strange sense of recognition settles over me.
As I get closer, I see Gavin through the narrow opening of the door. He’s staring out of the windows at the ocean. From the profile of his face, I watch a tear slip from his eye.
A lump rises in my throat. I already know what’s up.
“Damn, I miss you,” Gavin whispers into the empty room. “I wish we had more time together.”
The words hit me like a sucker punch, and my eyes burn instantly.
He’s talking about my Aunt Mimi. His mother. Her memory clouds my brain. Her laugh. Her smile. Her warm hugs. The way she carried light with her and left traces of it everywhere she went. Seems like it was yesterday I was able to experience all of that. Grief is so strange. It doesn't care how much time has passed. It waits patiently for moments like this and then arrives all over again.
I should leave. This moment isn’t meant for me. But even as I turn to go, guilt tugs at me, almost as if it’s calling me back. As if maybe I should go back and tell Gavin he’s not alone. Something tells me I should set aside years of silence, resentment, and unanswered questions because he's hurting.
But I find myself walking away. My mind is a fog of torment and shame. My eyes are still blurred from tears that won’t fall. Unfocused, I bump into the one person I’ve been searching for. She’s coming down the steps, and, out of instinct, she starts to say, "Excuse me," but when she realizes it’s me she nearly collided with, she gasps.
“I’ve been looking everywhere for you,” I tell her.
“I had to run to the ladies' room.” Marley keeps walking, brushing past me like I’m nothing but a draft in the hallway.
I reach out, wrapping my fingers gently but firmly around the crook of her arm.
“Marley. Just talk to me. Help me understand what?—"
“There’s nothing to understand. It was just a kiss.” She turns away again.
I hesitate, thrown off by her sharp tone. But she’s wrong. I know she felt something in that kiss. I know she feels something right now. I wasn’t about to play this fucking game of denial with her.
"Marley, it wasn't just a kiss, and I think you know that.”
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Why are you so bothered?”
“I’m fine, Othello.”
“You’re saying you’re fine. But you don’t look like it.”
There’s heat in my voice now. Marley’s steps move faster through the party, out the front door of the Jungle House where the valet waits. Moonlight spills across the stone steps. It’s almost midnight now. She pulls out her phone and starts tapping away. When I glance down, I see the Uber app on her screen.
Without thinking, I pull the phone from Marley’s hand and shoot her an incredulous look.
