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I laughed. “You so are!”
He reached out a hand. “Here let me show you.”
I handed him the chain. He wrapped it around my fingers, weaving it under my middle finger instead of over. His touch was electric, setting off fireworks of awareness across my skin.
“It needs to go just like this,” he said. “When you think about where you want to go, you need to set your intention on not only the location, but the time, too.”
“Seriously, that’s it?” It was so simple.
“That’s it.”
Silas’s trick was going to save me so many wasted hours. Days even.
“With this, I don’t have to leave for another twenty-six hours,” I said, amazed. “What ever will we do with all of that extra time?”
Silas kissed my nose, my cheek, my lips. “I’m sure we’ll think of something.”
IMOGEN
Twenty-nine hours later…
I saton the end of a too-long table in the back corner of Eats. Some random jerk was in our booth. If we’d been in our rightful booth, I would actually be able to hear what people were saying. As it was, I was seated right beside the bathroom door, and the broken fan inside clunked and clattered and deafened me to just about anything beyond the flushing of toilets.
Wendy and Rose and Kurt and Lily were all laughing.
And I’d missed the joke.
Again.
I tried to lean past Marnie beside me toward the group. Marnie stared at the wall in blank indifference. Marnie was great at her job at the shelter. She’d taught me all kinds of useful tips about taking care of the animals. But her personality was black and dead, and I did not want to spend my social time only able to speak with her when she wouldn’t even speak back more than a clipped word here or there.
I wanted to be a part of the laughter.
I practically climbed onto the table to see around her and said, “What was that?”
“They’re telling stories of things we weren’t a part of, Imogen,” Marnie said in her flat tone. “Just like they were the last time you tried to insert yourself into the conversation.”
“I’m sure they didn’t invite us out to exclude us,” I said, and tried to lean around her the other way. “You should switch seats with me, since you don’t want to talk anyway.”
“And be stuck any closer to the toilets than I already am? No.”
I sighed.
Wendy rose from her seat, a smile still on her face. Kurt got up, too. Then Rose.
“It’s finally over,” Marnie said.
“No,” I said. “It can’t be.”
“See you at work,” she said. Then she got up and left, too.
“Bye,” I called after everyone else. “See you soon.”
Lily was still at the table, and she turned toward me. “Did you have a good time?”
I was already wearing my stressed-out smile, so I doubled down on it, hoping it would convince her. “Yes.”
She frowned. “It’s good to see you.”
