She couldn’t help but remember the first thing Adele had told her. You already know this, but there’s something on the other side of the wall.

Did she? Did she already know it? Taking a page from her dad’s handbook, “Take a moment to assess the situation,” Tess tried to think of what she really did know.

~ CHAPTER TWENTY ~

in which tess attempts to assess the situation

All during dinner, that’s what she did.

First, Tess insisted—very politely, of course, saying please, after she saw that the table was empty—that the maître d’ seat them at the table they’d sat at when she’d first seen the boy sitting alone having tea; the boy who they’d later met in the library; the boy who told them his name was Colin; who invited them up to the 8th floor to his mother’s apartment where she was having that amazing party; the boy who. . . . Tess didn’t want to finish that sentence.

“We’ve come to think of it as our family table,” Tess told the maître d’.

This wasn’t the only reason. She was trying to follow another one of her father’s rules. If you get lost go back to where you started, if you can. He always added that part, if you can. And Tess reasoned that was where it started, when she saw the boy sitting at the table behind her.

Tess noticed that table was empty, too.

“Aunt Evie,” she said. “Would you mind if I sat on this side tonight?” Tess wanted a clear view of the table.

The maître d’ tried to hide his smile as he pulled the chair out ceremoniously for Aunt Evie to sit down where Tess had directed her.

“We’ve also become very fond of Fredrik,” Tess added. “He’s always so nice to us.” Fredrik was the hovering waiter, who Tess hadn’t liked until he rescued the cat named Ginger and Tess realized the only reason he hovered was because he wanted them to be happy.

“I hereby declare this your family table,” said the maître d’. “But Sunday is Fredrik’s day off. And you will be served tonight by Sonya who I’m quite certain you’ll like just as much.”

Tess wasn’t sure of that. Fredrik was funny, and they’d developed a sort of cozy relationship. And Sonya was a frighteningly fierce-looking woman, tiny, her long dark hair pulled back in a bun, with dark piercing eyes (that weirdly reminded Tess of Adele’s).