Page 26 of What They'll Say About Us

"Yes. I was so upset after talking to Liam, I needed to walk it off. I wasn't paying much attention to where I was going or who was around me."

"Someone could have followed you from Liam's bar."

I thought about that, about the anger Liam had also shown me. But there was no way he would have followed me and tried to run me over. He couldn't hate me that much, could he?

After checking out of the hotel and grabbing a late lunch with Cassidy before her flight, Morgan and I headed to the Cornerstone Theater around three thirty. The theater was located on a tree-lined block of older, dark-brick buildings. It was a mix of retail shops with a bookstore, art gallery, café, juice bar, children's pottery shop, a couple of boutique clothing stores, and a yoga studio.

The theater, once a majestic neighborhood cinema built in the nineteen-fifties, sat on the corner, an imposing three stories with a limestone arch framing the entrance that rose to the second floor. Above the arch, set into the brick, were three tall, narrow windows. The marquee ran the full width of the entrance, with a border of globe lights and an old-fashioned track for individual letters. The next production was entitled Dark River, with the opening date less than two weeks away.

This theater had been closed during my days at Northwestern and had been up for sale for almost ten years before my aunt had gathered together a group of theater-loving investors two years ago and leased the building. She'd wanted to bring more live theater to Chicago and to this neighborhood. Since then, the building had been repainted and refurbished and, according to my aunt, was now a popular destination, not only for the locals but also for people visiting Chicago or living in the surrounding suburbs.

"This is a cool building," Morgan commented. "Feels both old-fashioned and also a little trendy at the same time."

"My aunt said she wanted to recreate that excitement that people used to get when going to a theater, but she also wanted to draw a younger crowd."

"Well, with the university nearby, I'm sure there are a lot of young people around here."

"I wish it had been a theater when I'd been a student. But it was all closed up. It felt like a relic from a past that no one thought would ever come back. But pasts do come back, don't they?"

"Are we talking about your past or the theater?" Morgan asked, a knowing gleam in her green eyes.

"Maybe both. It feels surreal to be here. I used to go to that yoga studio. And Rachel used to work at that clothing boutique. She used to help us get discounts on clothes."

"It's a nice street. Where is the apartment?"

"She said it's next door, maybe above the yoga studio," I said, waving my hand to the building to our left. "Hopefully, we can put our bags down before we see what's going on in the theater."

"That sounds good. So, why aren't we moving?"

"I'm stalling," I said honestly.

She gave me a smile. "I've never thought of you as a fearful person, Tessa. You've always been so full of confidence, ready to go on offense and attack when necessary, and you always push, probably more than you should at times. But since Alina stepped up to that microphone, you have been off your game. Help me understand why."

"There are times in my life where I have liked myself better than other times. My college years were a mix of good and bad. I feel like I made a lot of mistakes, that maybe I wasn't always as nice or as kind or as generous as I should have been."

"Well, you were still a work in progress."

"That's true. But my relationship with Paige feels like a mirror to a version of me I don't really like to remember. Having to reunite with people who may or may not have liked me back then isn't very exciting. I feel off-balance, like I don't know who I am anymore."

"You're Tessa Conway, one third of a very successful true crime podcast. And beyond that, you're a good friend and a good person," Morgan said. "You're not perfect. None of us are. But you need to remember that Alina came to you, because of the podcast. You are the driving force behind our success."

"We all contributed," I said quickly. "Cassidy almost died for the podcast, so I can't take all the credit."

"Then take some of it. Take your share. My point is that you're not coming back as a failure."

"I know, but when I left here, I told everyone I was going to be a famous actress. I was going to be a star on Broadway, and I didn't even come close to achieving that."

"That was a different dream. You have a new one now."

"That's true." As I looked up at the window, I caught a flash of movement. "Someone is watching us," I murmured.

"Maybe your aunt," Morgan said.

"Maybe." I felt a shiver run down my spine despite the warm day.

"Let's go inside, Tessa. Let's get over the first big hump. We'll talk to your aunt, we'll check out the apartment, and we'll see who's here that we need to talk to. Don't focus on the big picture yet. One step at a time."

"You're right." I grabbed my roller bag while Morgan got hers, and we walked through the glass doors and into the building.