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Mrs.Jones shoots me an alarmed look. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
She backs away from Maeve, her eyes still on me. Her face has turned a shade of purple red that matches the mason jar and would cause a hospital alarm to shriek. “I didn’t ask you for ...” She gestures loosely in Maeve’s direction. “Whatever that is.”
Maeve smiles, unflustered by the pitch of Mrs.Jones’s voice. “You already paid for it. Take it. Hope won’t tell anyone. Right?”
I shake my head. “No, of course not. It’s ... it’s none of my business. I just—I was just leaving anyway.”
Outside, the shift from artificial light to intense sunshine makes my eyes water. The air, thick and dusty, doesn’t help. It’s better than being caught in the middle of ... whatever that was.
I reach the corner and freeze. Left leads to the hospital—where I can’t go because Lydia will lose it if she sees me back so soon. Right leads to Logan’s house—where I can’t go because I’m on a mission to give him and Tanya as much privacy as possible—or Tessa’s house, where I don’t want to go because she’ll want to talk about nursing school and her spare room and about a dozen other topics that make me feel like I’m slowly being pulled under by quicksand.
That leaves only forward. Or back.
“Or you can come with me.” Maeve’s smooth voice startles me out of my brooding, and I spin around to find her standing behind me, a bag of gummy bears in her hand. “Want one?”
I shake my head no. “How did you know what I—”
Maeve shrugs. “The light’s turned green twice, and you haven’t moved. I know a thing or two about figuring out where to go next.” She brightens. “I might be able to help you with that, actually.”
“I doubt that.”
“Galileo once said, ‘Doubt is the father of creation.’” She scrunches up her face. “Or maybe invention. I get them confused all the time. Nevertheless, you’re welcome to come with me. The midnight bloomsdon’t open for another few hours, but in the meantime, you can fill me in on what’s making your energy vibrate like that.”
“My energy?”
“I find grief vibrates at a much lower frequency than most would expect, but you ...” She tilts her head to study me. “No, there’s something more. Is it ... guilt?” She turns her gray-eyed gaze on me.
Too trusting.Lydia’s earlier criticism plays in my mind with Tessa’s voice singing backup. Even my subconscious doesn’t trust my judgment.
“Oh, Hope.” Her mouth purses. “That was ... I have a bad habit of speaking before thinking.”
I inhale, letting the breath fill in the cracks splintering along my rib cage. “I should go.”
Left. I’ll go toward the hospital. Maybe inspiration will strike, and I’ll get my essay done.
Maeve sighs. “I understand. Please tell Tessa I said hello, and that I’m happy to continue discussing the thing we were discussing whenever she’s ready.”
My body goes cold, then hot. Then cold again. “You spoke to Tessa?”
“Only briefly. She came to a meditation once.”
“Oh,” I say. It’s all I can manage as a white-hot heat explodes down my spine, making sentences impossible. Tessa called Maeve bad news. She said anyone who goes to a midnight meditation is a fool.
What she meant was Maeve is bad newsfor me.
ThatI’dbe a fool if I went.
“Are you okay? You look overheated.” Maeve touches a hand to my shoulder, her face clouded with concern.
I shake off her hand. “I don’t need help, if that’s what you’re thinking. And I have no money.”
“Oh, dear, I believe you do need help. And I don’t need your money. There are some things money can’t buy.”
A scoff slips past my lips. “And yet, I’ve tried to buy them.”
“I’m sorry you had that experience.”
“Don’t say ‘I’m sorry.’” My back teeth hurt from grinding together.
