Page 49 (1/2)

Fa the Plank

We left the restaurant, ether against the wind I breathed it in with relief, grateful for fresh air after the tension-filled dinner, his ht I was a gold digger, had all but calledthe meal, multiple insinuations made that I ith Carter for his inheritance An inheritance I hadn’t even known about It was ridiculous

I couldn’t wait to get hoh by the idea toainst the wind, toward their conversation, just in time to hear Carter politely push them off

His mother, damn her soul, didn’t back down "Don’t be silly, Carter I haven’t seen the building since … gosh Since we interviewed Chloe Let us check in on our investlowed at me, and I wanted to throw up my hands in frustration

"You don’tave my best smile "Of course not"

She eyed ets too late"

Oh yes One thing I agreed with Let’sas quickly as possible

We walked the few blocks ho behind his parents, their slow shuffle painful to follow I gripped Carter’s arm and watched the street, the road buht I looked up ahead, trying to see past theto see the source of the probleot hit It was a wonder we didn’t all end up splattered on these dirty streets I glanced up at Carter, wanting to whisper an apology, wanting to laugh about this ridiculous situation, but his body was tense, his eyes straight ahead, and I didn’t

Just across froht in theon Carter’s ar around them, that I sahat had slowed traffic, the face of our building transfor in a hundred places at once

I saw our building through wisps of ht air Beside , soer overlike this When had he done it all?

The trees before our building rapped and draped in white lights, white rose petals lining the front ay, our front planters suddenly overfloith jas itself, the white brick illu across its surface, the production iiant canvas of all things Chloe

Me, as a child, in pigtails, running through the Miae dissolved into aa drink, my eyes on the cae but then it was gone, replaced with a slow- in the New York snow, my arms outstretched I remembered the day, Cammie and Benta and o, and I slance at Carter but couldn’t read his expression, his face in shadow

Across the street, the parking lot had been e Maserati--through the stalled traffic, everything unreal, as if I was in a drearand piano in the eown seated before it, her hands quick on the keys Beside her, atowardabout this situation

This wasn’t a dream, a roht closer