15-05-2021-052358It-Ends-with-Us

The door swings open again and I immediately stiffen, but it’s only
a caterer. I sigh with relief. Devin says, “Lily,” like my name is a
disappointment.
“What?”
“You look like you’re about to puke,” he says, accusingly. “You really
like him.”
I roll my eyes. But then I let my shoulders drop and I fake cry. “I
do, Devin. I do, I just don’t want to.”
He takes my glass of champagne and downs the remainder of it,
then locks his arm in mine again. “Let’s go mingle,” he says, pulling
me out of the kitchen against my will.
The room is even more crowded now. There have to be more than
a hundred people here. I’m not even sure I know that many people.
We walk around and work the room. I stand back while Devin does
most of the talking. He knows someone in common with every person
he’s met so far, and after about half an hour of following him around,
I’m convinced he’s made it a personal game to find someone in
common with everyone here. The whole time I mingle with him, my
attention is half on him and half on the room, searching for traces of
Ryle. I don’t see him anywhere and I begin to wonder if the guy Devin
saw was even Ryle to begin with.
“Well, that’s odd,” a woman says. “What do you suppose it is?”
I look up and see that she’s staring at a piece of art on the wall. It
looks like a photograph blown up on canvas. I tilt my head to inspect
it. The woman turns her nose up and says, “I don’t know why anyone
would bother turning that photograph into wall art. It’s awful. It’s so
blurry, you can’t even tell what it is.” She walks away in a huff, and I’m
relieved. I mean... it’s a bit weird, but who am I to judge Allysa’s
taste?
“What do you think?”
His voice is low, deep, and right behind me. I close my eyes briefly
and inhale a steadying breath before quietly exhaling, hoping he
doesn’t notice his voice has any effect on me whatsoever. “I like it. I’m
not quite sure what it is, but it’s interesting. Your sister has good
taste.”
He steps around me so that he’s at my side, facing me. He takes a
step closer until he’s so close, he brushes my arm. “You brought a