Page 74 of You'll Be the Death of Me

“What did she say?” Dell asked as Cole bent to pick up the tablet.

He squinted at the message, all the while Dell coming down from the high of their make-out session and remembering there were important things at stake. “She said Robbie’s mom was thrilled to receive the message and would like to pass along to her son and father she misses them too and is so happy they have each other. And she’s sorry she’s not there to be part of Robbie’s life, but she loves him and is extremely proud of him.” Cole’s voice grew thick at the end, and Dell noted the burning sensation behind her dry eyes once more.

“We have to tell him,” she said with a sniffle of nothing. She turned like she meant to leap off the bridge and go tell him right then, but Cole reached for her arm.

“Dell, wait. It’s the middle of the night.”

“I somehow expect Robbie is still up right now.”

Cole shrugged like he had to agree. “I think we can wait for a reasonable hour.”

“We need a plan,” Dell said. She pinched her bottom lip with her fingers and began pacing.

Cole watched her with an amused look on his face. “How did I know you were going to say that?”

“Perhaps yourememberfrom some inexplicable sliding-doors reality that hasn’t happened yet,” she said with a teasing grin. “Or maybe you are simply astute and have realized after spending the day with me I never go into a situation unprepared.”

“Perhaps both,” he said with a shrug and smile.

The quirk of his lips made her want to kiss him again, but she resisted and kept pacing and planning, like a general giving battle orders. “So, we need to get that message from his mom to Robbie, and while we’re there, we might as well have him use his hacker setup to find a picture of you.”

“Great. Two birds. But why do we need a picture of me?”

“To show to Jason to confirm this theory of ours that you’re the guy from the ski trip.”

“Okay, and doing that will confirm...?”

Dell stepped toward him and put her hand in his. She looked up into his face framed by starlight. Her knees weakened for a moment. “That maybe there’s something aboutyouthat’s key to solving my problem. Maybe it’s beenourproblem all along.”

He looked down at her and seemed to get lost in her eyes. “Would it be all right if I kiss you again?”

“You don’t have to ask.”

Their lips met once more, and Dell couldn’t help thinking hehadto be the answer. The missing piece. The explanation as to why her life had derailed in such a bizarre fashion and led her right to him. And not simply because kissing him felt like their mouths were made for each other, but also because being close to him had her wanting to open him up and read every page in the story of his life. She wanted to scribble in the margins, dog-ear her favorite parts, know every single thing about him so she could ask him more. The feeling had never struck her so hard with another person. Tommy had been a box to be checked: He was gorgeous, successful, well-connected, murderous as it turned out, but still, he’d been the easy route. Cole was anything but easy, given she and he existed on different ethereal planes,among many other obstacles. But for the first time in her life, Dell didn’t want to check a box simply for the sake of checking it. She wanted to see where this truly bizarre thing with Cole might go, figure out what it all meant even if it unraveled her tidy and routine life, and yes, keep kissing him until the sun came up.

Chapter 13

Dell woke with her head on Cole’s chest. Thoughwokewas not the proper word because she hadn’t ever fallen asleep. They’d stayed up all night talking, watching the stars silently rotate above them, playing a brief game of truth or dare, which led to Dell momentarily dangling her feet over the tower’s edge until Cole dove on her to pull her back. And then more kissing, because she’d landed on top of him.

She’d told him everything about herself: her childhood, how she met Jason, how she’d secretly placed a bet on which of her brothers would get married first and “won.” Cole had told her things he thought might be true about himself: how he was positive he loved dogs and was pretty sure he’d rather read a book than go to a party. How he was risk averse, but he didn’t need to tell her that after the day they’d spent together. She longed to know about his childhood, where he’d grown up, his family. Seeing as he couldn’t tell her, they crafted a story together about him having a mischievous younger brother with the complete opposite personality as him, loving parents, holidaysspent together, basically a mirror to Dell’s life, and the warm thoughts had settled her into a state of calm relaxation. It had felt like her body was ready for sleep but didn’t fully tip over into unconsciousness. She got the sense Cole was in the same state, and they settled together on the tower, his arm looped around her and her head on his chest, and stayed that way until the sun rose over Oakland.

Now, Dell sat up and blinked at the soft orange glow. The rising orb looked similar to a sunset but with different energy. A sizzling expectancy for what the day could bring, versus a soft melt into the horizon from another day put to rest. She watched it fully rise in a tranquil silence. Once the sky was fully lit, the day uncharacteristically clear and crisp, Cole sat up beside her.

“Good morning,” he said. The gentle light bathed his face in a warm glow. He didn’t look tired; he didn’t look unkempt, other than his normal rumpled clothes. He looked preserved exactly how he had been the day before, which made Dell realize she must have looked that way too.

She checked her breath against her palm before smiling at him. It smelled like nothing but morning air. “Well, this is one part of death I could get used to: no hygiene upkeep.”

Cole softly laughed. “Yes, that is one perk.”

He’d hardly finished talking before she grabbed his shoulder and pulled him into a kiss with no concern for needing to brush her teeth first. He kissed back with the same enthusiasm, and it took most of her strength to pull away and not lose the day to making out on top of the bridge.

“So, are we ready to put this plan in motion?” she asked.

Cole’s face was dreamy and dazed. He looked a little drunk.

Dell laughed and pinched his nose like she was honking it.“Thank you for bringing me up here, even though you were afraid.”

This seemed to bring him back online. He cleared his throat and smoothed his tie, back to business. “Thankyoufor bringing me up here. It’s really beautiful. And yes, I think we should carry on with the plan.”