Page 68 - It Ends with Us

The door swing s open again and I immed iatel y stiffen, but it’s onl y

a caterer. I sigh with rel ief . Dev in says, “Li ly,” like my na me is a
disappoint ment .
“Wha t?”
“You look like you’re about to puke, ” he says, accusing ly. “You rea lly
like hi m.”
I roll my ey es . But then I let my sho ulders drop and I fake cry. “I

do, Dev in. I do, I just don’t wan t to.”
He takes my glass of cha mpagne and downs the rem aind er of it,
then locks hi s arm in mine again. “Let ’s go ming le, ” he says, pulling
me out of the kitchen agains t my will.
The room is ev en more crowded no w. There ha ve to be more tha n
a hu nd red peo ple here. I’m no t ev en sure I kno w tha t many peo ple.
We walk around and work the room. I stand back whi le Dev in does

most of the talking . He kno ws someo ne in common with ev er y pers on
he’s met so far, and after about ha lf an ho ur of following hi m around ,
I’m conv inc ed he’s made it a pers ona l game to find someo ne in
common with ev er yone here. The who le time I ming le with hi m, my
attent ion is ha lf on hi m and half on the room, sea rchi ng for traces of
R yle. I don’t see hi m any where and I beg in to wond er if the guy Dev in

saw was ev en R yle to beg in with.
“Wel l, tha t’s odd,” a woman says. “Wha t do you suppose it is?”
I look up and see tha t she’s staring at a piec e of art on the wall. It
looks like a pho tograph blown up on canv as. I tilt my hea d to ins pec t
it. The woman turns her no se up and says, “I don’t kno w why any one
would bother turni ng tha t pho tograph int o wall art. It’s awful. It’s so
blurr y, you can’t ev en tel l wha t it is.” She walks away in a hu ff, and I’m

rel iev ed . I mea n . . . it’s a bit wei rd, but who am I to judge Allysa’s
taste?
“Wha t do you thi nk ?”
His voice is low, deep , and right beh ind me. I close my ey es briefl y
and inh ale a stea dying brea th bef ore quiet ly ex ha ling , ho ping he
does n’t no tice hi s voice ha s any ef fec t on me wha tsoev er. “I like it. I’m

no t quite sure wha t it is, but it’s int eres ting . Your sister ha s good
taste. ”
He step s around me so tha t he’s at my side, facing me. He takes a
step closer unt il he’s so close, he brushes my arm. “You brought a