A smile turns her full lips upward. “You’re joking, right? It’s the middle of the night. I’ve actually had a pretty long one this evening.” She tilts her head to the side, and a pop issues from her neck.

“I know, and I’m sorry to visit you so late. But I was at Danse La Nuit and saw you deejaying. I just thought I would ask, since you used to be so adventurous—”

“Used to be?” Chang raises thin brows. “Were you with that rude boy who called me old? I think I saw you.”

I suck in a breath, feeling the conversation teeter. “I know the guy he was dancing with. I’m sorry about him—he was rude, you’re right.”

Chang’s tiny, slippered foot taps the ground. “Well, he’s not entirely wrong. I’ve lived three of his unrhythmic lifetimes. But it’s been a while since I’ve had a real rush.” Opening the door wide, she motions for me to enter. “I’m in. Let me grab my hiking boots and some supplies.”

“Really? You’re sure?”

Chang grins. “Mahjong isn’t my only hobby, Shayna. I think it’s time for another adventure.”

Chapter 28

Chapter 28

from: Angela Darby <[email protected]>

to: “Darby, Shayna” <[email protected]>

subject: Update #2

Shayna, sister of my bones, breaker of my heart:

I’ve been thinking a lot about us. You probably recall the Period of Solitude is well underway, so maybe you were expecting me to draft this letter that I’ll never send. I know you’re going to Aunt Judy’s in Boise for Christmas this year. I know a lot of things about you that you might not be aware of. Judy invited me, too, said she’d give me a tour of the German lager part of the brewery, but I said no. Not this year.

The truth is I’ve been thinking about that one day on the beach. The one you never like discussing and forbade me from talking about. In hindsight, the terror on your face is pretty laughable. Is that wrong? It’s laughable because it’s almost as if you didn’t know the game we were playing, and you seemed to think I was some monster. Laughable, and yet it galls me in the middle of the night, when my apartment building creaks and moans like a weatherworn pirate ship, straining against its mooring—against the injustice punted at it from a past life. That day on the beach is simply another reminder you never understood me, never desired to. Rather than view my actions as well intentioned, you only see the end result. The product of pain and confusion instead of my meaning, my efforts.