Page 94 of The Glittering Edge

“They did, but they didn’t visit. They didn’t come to the funeral, either.”

Corey feels suddenly cold. He and his dad don’t have a good relationship, but what would his dad do if Corey died? He’d be sad. He’d plan a gigantic funeral. He’d probably retreat even further into work.

At least, that’s what Corey wants to believe.

“I always hear about your dad’s band,” Corey says, changing the subject. “Quicklime, right?”

Penny smiles. “My mom has pictures of me at their concerts when I was a baby. I had those big headphones on.”

Corey pictures it: tiny Penny with her curly hair and concert headphones. “Cute.” Penny’s smile disappears, and he realizes how that sounded. “I meant you as a baby. But you’re also cute now, I mean.”

Penny looks stricken for half a second. Then she laughs.

“That made me feel better,” she says.

“What did?”

“Knowing that the great Corey Barrion says the wrong thing sometimes.”

“Shut up,” Corey says, but he laughs, too. “Don’t ever tell anyone.”

“Cross my heart.” She pauses. “So. What would you do? If you weren’t going to take over the company, I mean.”

Corey opens his mouth to answer, but his mind is totally blank. “I don’t know.” The truth of it rings inside him. He feels hollow. Who is he outside of being a Barrion? Who would hewantto be? He must’ve thought about this at some point in his life, but he can’t remember.

Maybe Penny can feel the change in Corey’s mood, because she shrugs. “I don’t know what I want to do, either.”

The difference is that Penny will have the space to figure it out. Corey’s entire future is now laid out before him—and it leads to a gilded cage.

Corey doesn’t want to continue the conversation, so he opens the lock screen on his phone. But the show he was watching immediately starts to play.

“Oh shit,” he says as the poltergeist screams at the half demon in a high school hallway. “Sorry, that was loud.”

But Penny is staring at his phone, jaw unhinged. “Is that the new episode ofAmityville High? From last week?”

“Oh yeah. You watch the show?” Penny is still staring at Corey’s phone, so he laughs. “Guessing that’s a yes.”

“I’m trying to figure out what’s happening in this scene. Oh my god, this is the school dance?”

“You haven’t seen this one? François is about to throw down.” Corey drags his finger along the screen, rewinding the episode to the beginning. “Want to watch it?”

Penny looks up at him in shock, as if this is the last thing she expected him to say. “You’re sure you have time?”

Corey realizes he’s smiling. He’s filled with a mosaic of good and bad, of hope and fear. A few days ago, he was at IHOP with Dylan, thinking about how Penny wasn’t really his friend. She was just apretty girl who reminded Corey of what he couldn’t have. But maybe Penny could be his friend. Doesn’t she already know more about him than anyone else outside his family?Besides Alonso, he remembers, and that makes him laugh again.

“What?” Penny asks him.

“Nothing,” he says. “And yeah, I’ve got time.”

Penny

WHEN THE LAST CUSTOMER LEAVES THE CAFÉ, PENNY SPRINTS TO THEfront door, locking it behind them. Ron kept the café open an hour later than usual because of the long line and straggling customers on laptops, but since they have no events that night, they get to go home early.

And, thankfully, Dylan Mayberry didn’t show up.

The vial of truth serum has been in Penny’s apron pocket all week, heavier than it should be for its size. She has no idea if she would’ve actually given it to Dylan if she had the chance. She gets to put off that moral conflict for another day.

“Why did I decide to work in the restaurant industry?” Ron calls from the back kitchen, where he’s washing mugs.

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