Amy’s response took longer.
Then I’ll hear what she says. After that, we set the time.
I wanted to ask her not to go. Rule four. No acting on jealousy. She had every right to meet Evelyn. She had every right to learn whatever information Evelyn believed she possessed. I typed:
Okay.
Okaylooked weak. I added:
Call me after?
Amy replied:
I will decide after the conversation.
Fair. Painful. I placed the phone down. For the first time since the challenge began, I wished the relationship were entirely fake. Fake things could not be threatened by the truth.
Chapter Thirteen
Rose’s Warning
Amy
On Friday, June twenty-seventh, Evelyn arrived at Bellweather Coffee nine minutes late carrying my usual order. I had chosen the same outdoor table where Dani proposed the fake relationship because it offered shade, a clear entrance view, and distance from neighboring conversations. The remembered coffee should not have made me compare years with Evelyn to Dani hearing the order once. It did.
“Thank you,” I said.
She sat. For several seconds, neither of us spoke. Traffic moved along the avenue. A cyclist stopped at the light. A dog tied near the café entrance watched both of us with mild suspicion. Evelyn folded her hands around her cup.
“You look different.”
“At the engagement party, you said I looked exactly the same.”
“I meant now.”
“What has changed in the last month?”
“You seem…” She considered. “Less guarded.”
I almost laughed.
“You have seen me for approximately four minutes.”
“I knew you for three years.”
“Past tense.”
The comment landed. Evelyn looked down.
“I deserved that.”
“You did not ask me here to discuss tense.”
“No.”
She took a breath.
“I wanted to apologize.”
