Chapter 56
CHAPTER
CHARLEY
I’d lied to Thad today.
Okay, maybe I hadn’t lied, but I hadn’t been totally honest either.
I wasn’t lying about feeling guilty when noon passed and Thad was still here, because it did feel like a gift, a wholly selfish present. But today was different. Today when noon passed, Thad’s presence didn’t feel like a gift; it felt wrong. That was the truth I didn’t share with Thad.
And the more I thought about it, the more today’s outcome felt like a mistake—a kink in Fate’s plan. Today was Thad’s day, bearing Thad’s gate; we’d never been so close. But that stupid cat stole it, and now Thad only had ten days left.
As much as I was dreading it, the sooner Thad and I said good-bye the better.
And yet, I couldn’t stifle the sense that we were missing something. That he was missing something—something that caused the kink.
We’re all here for a reason, Macy had said. But not the same reason.
I watched Thad’s eyelids flutter in sleep. Do you know why you’re here? Have you figured it out?
His breathing was steady, like Thad himself, which was oddly reassuring. Maybe he already knows, I thought. But if he didn’t, I prayed Thad dug deep, and soon. Because if Thad was right, and today’s miss wasn’t random, then he had exactly ten days to change his luck.
And my charts couldn’t help with that.