Oh, and don’t forget the fact that I’m starting to really like Peak, and that I’m probably torpedoing that relationship for the faint chance of building one with my father. So yeah, no pressure today or anything. Nope, none at all.

Bells ring when I step in the shop, heavy gold things that dangle over the door. So much for quietly slipping in and observing undetected. Vera—the Vera Flores—pokes her head out of the back room. “Hey, kid, I’ll be with you in just a second.”

“You don’t have to be,” I say, and she crinkles her forehead. “I mean, I’m looking here at stuff. I’m new. I don’t— I’m good. You can do whatever.”

“Hey, Margot?” she says, and I didn’t realize she was holding a phone until just now. “Let me call you back.”

“Oh no you don’t,” I mutter, but she’s already hung up.

“I’m Vera.” She walks toward me, extending her hand. “Welcome to Verona Comics.”

“Ridley.” I return her firm shake with my own limp one, feeling a little bit like the walls are closing in.

pretendpretendpretendpretendpretendthisisfine

“Nice to meet you, Ridley. What can I do for you?”

“I said nothing.” And wow, rude, holy shit, abort, abort, abort. “Sorry, I’m . . . I don’t know. I’m just—I was skating by and I saw your shop, and I just thought I’d stop in. I want to set up a pull list, though, since I’m here.” I reach into my pocket for the piece of paper, wrinkled and soft from my hands worrying it all night, where I copied the list of comics my dad sent.

Vera stifles a smile and takes the paper from my hand. “You were just skating by, huh?”

pretendpretendpretendpretendpretend

She goes behind the desk and turns on her computer. She’s still smirking, and I don’t know why. It’s starting to stress me out more, if that’s even possible.

“Do you always skate around with a list of comics you want to buy in your pocket?”

Oh.

thinkthinkthinkthinkthink

“Yes?”

shitshitshitshitshitshitshit

“You’re my kinda kid, then, Ridley.” She laughs.

Crisis averted? Maybe? I let out a deep breath and run my hand along the long boxes on the table beside me. This is fine. I am fine. I am standing across the room from my comics hero, but this is fine.

Fine, fine, fine.

Oh god, I’m freaking out. I take another deep breath and blow it out. Vera looks up from her computer, and I spin around fast and start flipping through the comics in front of me, trying to calm down. If I blow this . . . I can’t. I can’t blow this.

getagripgetagripgetagrip

“Fuck,” I whisper, trying to keep my hands from trembling.

“What was that?” Vera asks from behind the counter.