Chapter 22

• It Was Good For A Minute There
• Clover Five weeks later The beep of the house alarm being disarmed wakes me. I bolt upright in bed, breath caught in my throat. The wisps of my dream fade out slowly. I’ve been having the same one for over a month—more like a memory than a dream. My cheeks heat, and every muscle below my waist is clenching. My summer fling refuses to stay in Pearl Bay. He’s followed me here, to Chicago, and every night I have the same dream, where instead of leaving behind an empty pillow and a paper crane, I wake up with him next to me.
• “Wakey wakey, eggs and bac-y!” my best friend, Sophia, calls out from down the hall. She lives on the top floor of the duplex, and I live on the bottom. I lucked out that the tenant who previously lived here moved at the beginning of August, allowing me to take over the lease and live close to my best friend again.