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“It’s very festive. Did you pick Christmas colors on purpose?” she asked.
“Not exactly,” I said. I’d been so focused on the solstice, human religious holidays hadn’t registered. “Maybe I just thought you’d look good in red.”
“You don’t think it will be too warm?” she asked, running her fingers over the soft wool knit that hung down to cover her ears.
“Definitely not. It’s perfect.”
“Okay,” she said. She turned and started walking to the register.
“Evelyn?” I called after her.
“Hmm?” she turned toward me.
“You might also want to get some gloves.”
“Oh!” She held her hands up, the fleece baggy around her fingers. “Good idea.”
She picked out a pair of red mittens that matched the hat and carried everything over to the shop lady to pay. I kept my distance from the old woman to avoid further scrutiny.
When Evelyn finished, she walked over to me and returned the gloves I’d lent her. “I guess I should give these back to you.”
I put the gloves in my pocket. I had no need for gloves, but they helped to keep up the appearance of being human. It was nice to see them actually get some use. “Let’s see the new ones.”
She held up her hands, and I admired the mittens. “Those fit much better,” I said.
Her phone buzzed in her pocket, and she jumped. She started to reach for it, then stopped so she could yank off her mittens. She stuffed them into her jacket pocket as she glanced at the screen of her phone.
“Everything okay?” I asked.
She looked up at me. “I should get back.”
“All right,” I said. “We just need to get a few things for Vivian and then we can go.”
She nodded. That glimpse of sunny, carefree joy disappeared, replaced by a shadow of dread that appeared to loom over her while we shopped. I’d thought I’d made some progress winning her over, but now nothing I said could snap her out of her foul mood.
4
Liam parked the motorcyclein the drive but left the engine running. He turned his head and flipped his visor up. “Go ahead and jump off.”
I dismounted and managed to get the helmet off without much trouble. “Sorry I had to cut our trip short.”
He shrugged. “It’s okay. Some other time.”
I handed him the helmet. “Thanks.”
“Put your hat on before you freeze,” he said.
I pulled my new hat on. “Better?”
“Much.” He didn’t smile. He only stared at me with those eyes that seemed to see right through me.
I shivered and broke eye contact with him. “See you later.” I waved as I jogged toward the front steps. I had a moment of worry, wondering if my aunt and uncle had locked their front door. But the handle turned freely and the door opened. I shut it behind me and fled up the stairs and down the hall to my room. Inside, I threw my coat onto the bed and reached for my laptop. The screen took a moment to come on, and I waited, worrying I’d missed him. As soon as I logged in, I opened the chat application and clicked on Connor’s picture.
Home now. Can you talk?
I tapped my fingers on the keyboard while I waited for a reply. The video chat notification started ringing and my heart started to race. I hated confrontation, and I had a feeling I knew what was coming as soon as Connor’s face popped into view. He was wearing his Berkeley rowing hoodie and his short hair was sticking up in different directions.
“Hey,” he said.
