Chapter 42

But the sense of foreboding doesn’t faze me. I breathe in through the nose and out through the mouth and wait.

He clears his throat, leans forward, and scratches his neck before leaning back again. “Debora said…Debora…she said you’re in love with me…”

I grow cold, all blood rushing to my head and whooshing in my ears. My heartbeats thunder in my mind.

“…and that it’s obvious to her that…that I feel the same way about you. That…I’m in love with you, too.”

“What?” My question is like a whip cracking in the quiet room and I swirl my head to look at him. His gaze is still steady on the TV, but he nods.

“Yes. That’s what she said. And since I’m in love with you and not her, she broke up with me. Said she wanted someone who is devoted to herand no one else.”

I hear the words, but they don’t make any sense, and I feel like I’m trying to decipher a research paper with half the results missing.

Why would she even think that? “But…you set her straight, right?”