“Or true love saved the day.”
My heart softened. Maybe the reason didn’t matter. Maybe it was nicer just to believe. “Are you saying you love me?” I whispered, then quickly added, “Actually, wait. Don’t tell me.” I held out my hand. “Come here.”
When he slipped his hand into mine, I dragged him through the store. The aisles were dim after closing, but I knew the path well enough that soon I broke into a run. We laughed, and it reminded me of that time in the library—him and me, away from everything else. Maybe every day with him would feel like this. Quiet, happy, while the rest of the universe kept on spinning. Not that the world revolved around us, but that we were a satellite, orbiting far from chaos in the peace of space.
I skidded to a stop. The glow of the freezer section cast blue light over Bryce’s face. I slid open a door, the glass frigid against my fingers. I swiped a box of ice cream bars off the shelf, planning to pay for it later. Probably. “Come on.” I tilted my head, and we walked, slower now, back to the coatrack.
With a heave, I pushed it upright. Sliding apart the coats, I ducked inside. When Bryce hesitated, I stuck my hand out and crooked my finger in afollow megesture.
He crawled inside and settled across from me. “What if it sends us back again?” he asked, voice pillow-talk hushed. Shadows danced across his face from where the light from the fixtures glowed through the opening at the top of the coatrack.
“Be brave, Bryce.” I smiled, popping the box of ice cream open with a thumb.
I unwrapped one of the chocolate-coated ice cream bars and handed it to him.
He didn’t take it. “I don’t like ice cream.”
“Everyone likes ice cream.”
Reluctantly, he took it.
“Now you’re going to eat it, and when you’re done eating it, nothing bad will happen.”
His throat lurched. “How do you know?”
“I’ll make sure of it.”
I opened my own ice cream and dove in, raising a brow as though to say,Your turn. Giving me that look he was so good at—the look that said,I can’t believe you’ve talked me into this—he took a stiff bite. As he chewed, his shoulders relaxed. He let out a little moan, his eyes rolling back.
“Told you,” I said.
Eyes twinkling, he wiped a stray bit of chocolate off my lip.
But his face darkened as we finished the ice cream. One last bite, then he just sat there, the Popsicle stick clenched in his white-knuckled grip. Bracing for the blow part of him still expected.
“Bryce?” Leaning forward, I touched his arm.
He didn’t look at me.
“I love you.”
His eyes snapped up. Slowly, a smile spread across his face. “Yeah?”
“Yep. And every time you eat ice cream, I’ll tell you that again.”
Grabbing the back of my neck, he tugged me forward, pulling me into his lap and wrapping his arms around me in a desperate embrace. I wound my hands into his hair and held him close. I pretended not to feel the wetness of his tears against my neck or the tremble in his shoulders.
When he lifted his face from my shoulder, he was himself again, butmore. A little less broken. A little more whole. He rested his forehead against mine, and I gazed into his eyes, smiling softly.
Someone tapped me on the shoulder.
With a yelp, I fell out of Bryce’s lap, whirling awkwardly on the ground to find the bony silhouette of a skeleton peeling back the coats, peering in at us. Light bulbs glittered through Kelly’s teeth as she lifted her hand in a little wave.
My car had been towed, so we rode back to the duplex in the back of an Uber, disguising Kelly in a long floral dress, a cowboy hat, socks, Crocs, a scarf, sunglasses, and a puffy pink jacket.
We gazed numbly at the seat backs in front of us. Deep bags had taken up permanent residence under Bryce’s eyes. Luckily—or perhaps unluckily—Kelly still had her disturbing stylus from the other world and was able to explain on my phone that she’d hitched a ride when she saw us vanish through the portal.
Now, Kelly sat to my left, happily tapping away at Candy Crush on my phone withnother finger.
