Lena nodded once, threw the leather jacket on the ground, then fled inside. With that, Lena was gone. And Imogen was alone again, like she wanted.

Imogen didn’t pick up the jacket. She left it there to bake in the sun.

There was only one thing to be done, really. It was time to go to the break room and investigate what the hell had been going on with that delivery.

9

Dulce et Decorum Est

11:09 A.M.

Daniella

Daniella hefted a box onto the pile they had made in the back corner of the office. It was right by Jo’s desk, but that seemed overt enough to remain, for now, covert.

At least until Jo started asking questions. After that, none of them would be able to stop the inevitable. But Daniella was hoping to stall for time as long as possible.

“Oh, look,” said Eli. “Jo has a pack of those old glow stars.”

“Eli, are you going through Jo’s shelves rather than stacking boxes?” How Eli could take Daniella from a zero to an eleven out of ten on the irritability scale was never not stunning to her.

Eli shrugged. “You’re on the last one, and I saw these on the shelf. Do you remember these?”

“Yeah, but my mom wouldn’t let me have them. She said they were wasteful. Or was it pagan? I dunno—I couldn’t have them.” Daniella grunted and lifted the last box. “But I always wanted them. To put them up in my bedroom and to make a map of the stars. One of those little-kid dreams you have.”

Unlike most people she knew, Daniella loved that astronomy involved math. She had wanted to make an exact replica of the night sky. But, of course, Mom hadn’t seen it that way. It was money they didn’t have on an idea she didn’t understand.

“Funny to think of you having little-kid dreams.”

“Yes,” said Daniella, rolling her eyes so she didn’t have to hold his gaze. “Hilarious.”

When she finally looked at him, Eli was smiling like he’d just discovered a new stash of comic books. Daniella did her best to hold on to her disgruntled expression. They stood there, the two of them staring at each other for a moment.

“Hey, Daniella, are you going to take your lunch break soon?” AJ Park walked into the break room, looking perfectly disheveled, and it honestly did nothing for Daniella. She wished it did sometimes. Then Daniella could fall in love like a doe-eyed, fairy-tale princess—just like Rinn. But Daniella was too far gone down her own particular path of cynicism for that.