I turned toward the front door and saw Morgan enter, followed by Zane. They both glanced around, searching for an empty table. They didn’t see us against the wall.
“Morgan and Zane?” Delia said to Amber. “I thought you saw her with Liam.”
“I did,” Amber said.
They both looked at me. They both know how I feel about Zane. And yes, it hurt to see him holding Morgan’s hand, being so cozy with her as they slid into a booth at the back. It made me angry at myself that I’d been so timid all this time, that I’d been so stupid about not letting Zane know that I had a thing for him.
“Julie, where are you going?” Amber asked.
I didn’t even realize I had jumped to my feet. “Uh . . . Let’s say hi.”
Amber slid out of the booth. “I’ll stay here,” Delia said. “They might take away the booth.” She slid the dark glasses over her eyes. But before she did, I thought I glimpsed a tremor of fear.
What did Delia have to be afraid of?
Amber and I pushed through some kids who were moving to leave, and strode toward Morgan and Zane. They were laughing together about something but stopped when they saw us coming.
“Hey.” Zane gave us a wave. He had a silly grin on his normally serious face. His dark eyes locked on mine. “How’s it going?”
“Good,” I said. “Delia’s here, too.” I motioned to our booth. “We’re just finishing up.”
“What did you have? A cheeseburger?” Zane laughed. It was kind of a private joke we always made. Because, what else would you have at Benson’s?
I guess it was only funny to us. Zane and I had a lot of private jokes. And I just remembered I’d offered to help him with some new stuff for his comedy routine.
Morgan and Amber were talking about their blog interview. Morgan said, “We should try it again. I was totally spaced out that afternoon. I’m really sorry.”
Amber said she’d love to do it over again some time. I was pretty sure she was lying.
I asked Zane when he wanted to work on his stand-up routine. We made a date for the next night at my house.
And then I don’t know what happened to me. It just burst out. I just blurted out what I really wanted to ask Morgan.
“Morgan, your school records came in while I was working in the office. There must have been a mix-up. You won’t believe this. It’s actually hilarious. It . . . it said you died five years ago.”
Morgan’s mouth dropped open.
Had I shocked her?
No. She burst out laughing. She has a low, throaty laugh that seems to come from deep inside her.
She grinned at me. “I thought everyone knew that. Yes, it’s true. It’s so tragic, Julie. I died so young. It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fair at all.”
