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“You made the right call.” Eva grabs my hand and looks deeply into my eyes. “I want you to know that.”
My spine freezes. I’m drunk. Does she mean Emerson? “About what?”
“The gold and white,” she says. Oh my god. The party decorations. “It’s better than what I was picturing.”
She wants to dance, so we dance.
Emerson: Tell the truth, little painter. Pretend I’m one of your canvases. I want to know what you need.
Daphne: I can’t tell you that
Emerson: You can tell me anything.
I can’t tell him anything. That’s dangerous. It’s dangerous for anyone, but especially for me. You have to really be able to trust a person to tell them everything. Leo and Haley have stopped dancing. They stand still in the middle of everything, his hands on her face, his eyes on hers. I can’t hear a word of what he’s saying. He trusts her with everything.
Daphne: What do you think about at night?
No answer.
No dots on the phone.
My eyes burn with how late it is, and how drunk I am. Leo shoos Lucian and Elaine into a car, which they barely see because they’re too busy making out with each other. He helps Eva into a second one and stands there with the door open, talking to her for several minutes too long.
“I’m going to bed.” I pull Haley in for a hug. “Happy birthday.”
“Thank you.” She squeezes me tight. “I’m so happy you were here. I really mean it. I loved it.”
It makes my heart hurt. It makes me laugh. “I’ll come to all your parties. But right now I have to go to sleep. I think I’ll die if I don’t.”
“Me too.” Haley laughs and lets me go. Her face is pink and her eyes are bright, and I’m happy for her. After everything, she deserves this. “Night, Daphne.”
I’m almost up the stairs when Leo comes into the foyer and picks her up in his arms. He makes it look easy. Like it doesn’t matter if he got shot, it doesn’t matter if he was sick. He won’t let it show. She drops her head onto his shoulder.
Am I jealous? Maybe.
In the tower suite I toss my phone on the pillow and go to wash my face. Pins out of my hair. Dress off. Party’s over. Time for a tank top and lounge pants. Time to get under the covers and dream of a man I shouldn’t want. I’m not interested in over-the-top obsession like that. I want what Leo and Haley have.
I’m two steps from the bed when my phone lights up.
I freeze in place, goose bumps rising on the back of my neck. It’s a coincidence. He’s not watching.
On tiptoe, I approach the side of the bed and lean over to see the message.
It’s from Emerson.
All it says is:
You.
Chapter Sixteen
Daphne
Everything falls apart.
That’s how it goes, doesn’t it? For one shining evening, everything is warm and good and right. And then it crashes to the ground.
A few days after Haley’s birthday party, I come downstairs and Leo tells me she’s gone. Which is impossible. He loves her. He’s in love with her. He won’t give me any details, so I go to Gerard, who says Leo sent her away. Something to do with her father being sick. With the Constantines.
