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“I already did,” Abbe said. She sighed heavily. “I probably shouldn’t be telling you this, but he was such a mess. He begged to see you. He—” she broke off for a moment and chuffed, deciding to just say it. “He kept saying he loved you, and the only reason he did it was to protect you.”
Bianca swallowed. “Did you believe him?”
Abbe nodded. “I really did.” She sounded troubled.
“Did my brothers?”
“Rafe does. Cassiel doesn’t. He thinks Elias is just trying to get back together with you so he can keep spying on the family.”
Bianca rolled over, facing away from Abbe. “Cassiel is right. He was always right about him.”
After a few minutes, Abbe left. Bianca heard voices on the other side of the door for a little while. Rafe and Abbe were talking about her. They were worried. She knew she couldn’t stay in that bed forever. Her family would be too hurt if she did, but she wasn’t ready yet.
She promised herself that she’d get up in the morning.
In the morning, she did not get up as planned. Her Uncle Gabriel came to get her instead.
He showed up with coffee and cinnamon buns, hot from the bakery. He sat down on the edge of her bed, placing the sweet-smelling parcel down on the bedside table right next to her head. He reached out and pet Jinx on the head even though the evil-tempered little gremlin growled at him as he did so.
“Okay, you’ve been here a full two days,” he said like he was starting a meeting. “It’s day three of the rest of what’s become your life, and you’re going to sit up now and eat rolls and drink coffee like a functioning human being.”
She tried to sit up and felt lightheaded. “Do I have to?” she asked, searching for the spark of humor in her that used to come so easily, even in the worst situations. It wasn’t there, and it worried her to think it might be gone for good. She didn’t know if she had it in her to be anyone’s funny girl anymore.
“Yes, you have to,” Gabriel replied stoutly. He picked up a coffee and blew on it. “And you’re going to keep doing that—you know, human stuff—until youfeellike one again. Here, I got you a vanilla latte.”
Bianca tried again and got herself to sit all the way up. She took the latte and had a tentative sip.
“There you go,” Gabriel coached. “Nothing helps, but if something could help, it would be coffee and cinnamon buns.”
She almost smiled at him. “You seem to know a lot about it,” she said.
He picked up the paper bag and pulled out a skein of steaming dough. “I do,” he said regretfully. “I didn’t used to be this lonely old fart you see before you. I was in love once.”
She blew on her latte. “Oh yeah? With whom?” she asked.
“Doesn’t matter,” he replied, chewing, and brushing the crumbs from his fingers. “Got my heart broken.” He thumped his chest. “Never went back together the same way. But here I am. Pretending to be fully human because that’s what you do.”
Bianca nodded pensively, a whole bunch of the pieces of the puzzle that was her uncle snapping into place. “Then I’ll do that.”
“Atta girl,” he said, standing up. “Next thing after coffee and buns? Pants.”
Bianca almost smiled. “Pants,” she promised.
“Really,” he said as he headed for the door. “You can’t forget the pants or they lock you up.”
That almost made her laugh.
She brushed her teeth and made it as far as the kitchen, opting to eat her bun at a table, like a fully functioning human being. That was her game plan now, thanks to Uncle Gabriel. She’d always thought he was smart, but now she knew he was a genius, except unfortunately for both of them, he appeared to be a genius at having a broken heart.
She greeted Abbe and Rafe, both of whom looked surprised but very happy to see her out in the kitchen, and even though she wasn’t really up for talking, she listened to them while they got ready for work. Not that they said much, as it seemed both of them were avoiding the giant elephant in the room, but at least she was there, chewing and swallowing in front of other people. When they left, she even waved goodbye to them.
As she was sitting alone at Rafe’s kitchen table nook, looking out over the city of Boston and the silver ribbon of the Charles River snaking through it, she heard a phone ring. It was a very particular ringtone, the same one she used on her phone for Eden. Bianca stood up and raced to find her phone before it stopped ringing.
“Where have you been?” Bianca shouted down the phone as soon as she answered.
“Singapore,” Eden replied. “I’m back now. Can you meet me?”
Bianca found some clothes in the closet and ran out of Rafe’s apartment. The concierge recognized her and his expression brightened at first and then fell into dismay when he saw her. She realized she must look like a ghost, pale-cheeked and red-nosed from crying for two days.
