Page 131 of Her Wicker Guardian

“You had seven samples and an entire cone.”

“I’m not eating because I’m hungry.”

“That is not making this better.”

“I like it.”

“That is a much better argument.”

“I thought so.”

His hand swings near mine again, and our fingers brush. Neither of us moves away immediately. We make it one step like that. Then another.

Not holding hands. Not quite.

Eventually walking separates us before the contact can become something someone photographs and names. I miss it immediately.

I wonder whether he’ll keep choosing me when he doesn’t need me. I leave the distance there for now.

But God, I want to close it.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Locke

By the next afternoon, the negotiations with Mara’s network are finished and I have agreed to the interview.

Mara chose a private room above a bank in Hollis Springs. Two chairs face each other at an angle with a small table between them. Two unopened bottles of water sit on it. A man named Victor is setting up the camera several feet away while Rachel settles into a chair outside the frame.

Blair went through the agreement with me this morning. I understand what Mara may ask, what she may not, and that I can stop if I want to. Rachel told Mara before we came upstairs that she will not be interviewed. Mara accepted that without arguing.

I like her more for that.

Victor holds up a small microphone. “May I?”

“Yes.”

He clips it near the neckline of my T-shirt and returns to the camera. Mara sits across from me with a notebook on her lap.

“Ready?”

“I think so.”

“Let me know if you want to take a break.”

“Okay.”

The light on the camera comes on.

Until now, this has only been a conversation in a room. The light reminds me that other people will hear my answers.

Then Mara asks, “What is the first thing you remember?”

“Rachel.”

From the edge of my vision, I see Rachel look up.

Mara waits.