Page 80 of Amethyst Flame
Except I was totally an idiot because who else did I have to go to for help? Will was like me. Infected like me. Dying like me. And it seemed he had something super secret to share. New intel? Dare I hope…a cure?
I had to take a Ruskin-styled leap of faith that we could form a partnership that would eventually lead to our survival.
On the way to the car, I texted Swann, who always had my back.Thanks again for your help with the runaway brat, I sent.Hope everything is going good with the final plans for the big proposal
I debated adding something about how important her showcase was and that it was mydying wishthat she follow through on it. I’d guilt her into her fabulous future. After all, only one of us had one.
But a shit emoji popped into my phone immediately, and the phone rang right after that.
I answered. “Hey, Swa—”
“He’s thinking about calling off the whole thing.”
“Oh no,” I groaned. When we’d been doing our mani-pedis, she’d showed me and Bri all the beautiful preparations. “What happened?”
This was what life was supposed to be like. Friends and weddings and love. Not secret desert rendezvous and probable death. So I bit my tongue on making her promise anything. She didn’t need my drama influencing her. She had to decide what to do on her own. Just like me.
“He’s a cowardly fool,” she yelled. “A cowardly fool with shit for brains and day-old bubble tea for spinal fortitude.”
I choked on a laugh as the mall’s sliding door whooshed open to the day’s rising heat. “Is he right there?”
“He’s right here,” she confirmed. “The bubble tea shit.”
I made a gagging noise. “I’m guessing there’s more to it than that?”
She let out a long, aggrieved sigh. “Everything is lined up, ready to go, looks great. Just gotta, like, say the words, you know?” She sighed again a little less theatrically. “And he’s not sure he can do it.”
“But he loves her, and more than that, helikesher,” I protested. I wantedsomeoneto have a happily ever after. “And from what I’ve heard, the feeling goes both ways. Both of them, together forever.”
“My point exactly,” Swann said. “And he said that’s the point too. Everything is great, so why risk it all by trying to change things by saying I do?”
I thought for a moment. “Yeah, that’s not how life works.”
“That’s what I said!”
“I mean, I get where he’s coming from”—I raised my voice a little to get over her stutter of disagreement—“but everything changes eventually. You can’t ever go back.”
For a moment, she was quiet. “Hey, Mojimo. Everything okay with you?”
I forced a laugh. “I’m not the one gluing a thousand yards of tulle into chrysanthemumsorthe one contemplating swearing my eternal love.” And I might never get that chance…
I squelched the thought when Swann went on, “Speaking of cowardly boyfriends, Jacob texted me, looking for you. Sounded like you guys are fighting too? Did you get back to him?”
I was sure my laugh sounded real this time. “He isnotmy boyfriend. That ship has sailed.” I could forgive Jacob for tweaking our secret code and trying to become a spy at my expense, but he’d withheld information that meantmy lifewas disintegrating. There was no coming back from that. “Yeah, that ship sailed, then it blew up in the middle of the ocean, sank, might’ve tried to come back as a ghost ship, but sank again. So no, we’re not fighting. I was shopping and got distracted.” I sent the screenshot of the purple catsuit. “I’m thinking this is what I’ll wear to the wedding.”
She yelped in dismay. “Why? Why do you hate me so?”
“That’s what you get for calling Jacob my boyfriend.” I got into the Fiesta, breathing in the plastic swelter. “Remind your brother that true loves don’t just show up at your door any ol’ time.”
“It’s not too late for St. Barts,” she said. “Or Kansas.”
That had been her suggestion for our would-be escape, back when we didn’t know that life could get even more uncertain.
“Well, at least I have the bathing suit already, basically.”
She groaned. “Don’t tell me you bought that purple monstrosity?”
I let out an evil mwa-ha-ha. “Makes those tulle chrysanthemums seem not so bad by comparison, right?”
