The idea of searching a crowded theater for Ryan was more than I wanted to deal with, so once I got back to the Royale Cinema, I took a seat on one of the padded benches in the lobby and waited. I thought about Ryan sitting in the dark, maybe next to Mary Beth, and tried to summon up some kind of righteous indignation. Here I was, trying to keep this entire town safe, trying to save my own freaking life, and my boyfriend was sitting in the movies with another girl.

But righteous indignation wouldn’t come. Neither would devastated betrayal or hurt disbelief. Mostly, I wanted the movie to be over so I could go home and wash the crab bisque out of my hair.

Finally, the doors opened and people began spilling out into the lobby. Ryan was there, but there was no sign of Mary Beth. His eyes roamed until they found me. Crossing the room in long strides, Ryan looked a little relieved, but also fairly irritated.

“There you are,” he said, standing in front of me. “I texted and called you like a hundred times.”

Rising to my feet, I fished my phone out of my pocket. Sure enough, I had about a dozen missed calls. I’d forgotten that I’d put the phone on silent.

“Have you been here this whole time?” Ryan continued, folding his arms over his broad chest.

“No,” I said, but before I could get any further, Ryan frowned.

“Why do you smell like an aquarium? And what are you wearing?”

Oh, crap. I’d forgotten to give David back his jacket. “Someone spilled soup on me,” I said, which, hey, was pretty close to the truth. “So that’s why I didn’t want to go in. Because of the smell.”

“And the jacket?” he asked. “Did you knock down a random professor and steal it?” He was smiling a little now. I’m sure the sight of me, bedraggled and covered in soup, was amusing.

And then his smile faded. “I’ve seen that jacket,” he said slowly, eyes moving over me. “That’s . . . David Stark has a jacket just like that. I remember the stupid elbow patches.”

Ugh. Why hadn’t I given the damn coat back? “Yeah,” I said lightly. “He was the one who spilled the soup on me.”

Ryan’s expression was stony. “So you ran out of the place looking for some girl, and then you found David Stark, but he spilled soup on you in the middle of Pine Grove Square, and gave you a jacket?”

“Yeah,” I said on a nervous laugh. “Pretty much. Weird night, huh?”

Heaving a sigh, Ryan glanced behind him. “Weird. Sure.”