Simone
SIMONE
Remy
Still on for tonight?
Simone
Why wouldn’t we be?
Remy
It’s pouring with rain and there’s a forecast of thunder so always good to check in
Simone
I’m driving because of the rain. Shall I pick you up?
Remy
Please!
Remy
There’s also something I need to talk to you about but I’ll wait until you’re here.
Simone planned to beep the horn outside Remy’s house and wait for her to come downstairs.
She suspected Remy wanted to tell her more (they’d already shared a quick debrief via voice notes) about her meetup with Ishir, but Simone’s mind had been vibrating all day, and for once, she wanted to share, too.
She hadn’t decided how much she would say, whether she would mention Tyler at school or the loss of all three clients, but keeping everything in and carrying on as normal no longer appealed to Simone.
When she arrived on Remy’s road, she saw there were no parking spaces available. Simone had to park farther down the street and, because Remy wasn’t answering her phone, Simone ran up to the house, shielded under her long black coat.
Remy, half-dressed, answered the door. “Whoa, the rain’s really picking up. Come in. I only need ten more minutes.”
Simone warily peered over Remy’s shoulder. “You can unclench,” Remy said. “Mum’s out. Your palms and their secrets are safe. Want to come up?”
Simone shut the front door behind her. “I’d rather snoop around down here.”
“I appreciate the honesty,” Remy said, running up the stairs. “Prepare to be bored.”
“With a mother like yours?” Simone said, under her breath and with a smile. “Unlikely.”
Simone entered the living room and noticed tarot cards scattered across the dining table.
She smiled to herself; no doubt they belonged to Ada.
She stepped forward only to peek at the ones Ada must have drawn when she noticed loose pieces of paper on the floor by the printer.
As she bent to pick them up, she caught the word escort .
Simone froze and started reading from the top of the first page. To her credit, Simone refused to believe the obvious. In her mind, there had to be an alternative explanation for this, but the more she read, the sooner she had to accept the truth.
She was holding passages belonging to Remy’s second book.
“Two more minutes—I have to pee, again !”
Startled, Simone looked toward the staircase, and the sound of Remy’s voice. Remy? It didn’t make any sense. How could the Remy that Simone knew do something like this? Take the confessions she had finally felt safe enough to share and turn them into stories ?
These pages… they were her life .
Simone felt her body slacken with grief. Sadness plummeted into devastation before falling into anger.
How dare she.
How dare she use me.
Simone gripped the pages she held tighter; she considered ripping them up, balling them up, but not before grabbing a thick marker and scribbling all over the words that had been stolen from her.
In the end, she decided to do none of those things. Instead, she threw the pages back onto the table where she’d found them and turned for the front door, letting it slam shut behind her.