Page 202 of Darling Venom
“I’m going on a date with Jonah.”
On the screen, one of the medical examiners pulled out a rolled cut-and-paste letter from the victim’s mouth.
Something lodged in my throat.
A scream.
Of happiness or anxiety, I didn’t know.
“I said I’m going on a date with Jonah.”
I scrunched my nose and shook my head before it sank in that I wasn’t hallucinating and LEAH JUST TALKED TO ME.
And holy crap, she was going on a date with Jonah.
“Oh.” I swiveled to face her.
Oh, Charlotte? Really?
My first word to her was “Oh”?
After everything that went down?
“Yeah. I figured it was time for me to start dating.” She fiddled with the hem of her dress. “Why? Is it a bad idea?”
“No. Not at all. He’s been wanting to go out with you for ages. You’re putting this guy out of his misery.”
“If you say so.” She held up both hangers. “Which one?”
This was so insanely normal.
The old normal.
The good normal.
“The coat.”
She slipped back into her room, clicking the door shut behind her. A gruesome Cold War, ended with less than twenty words from me. Somewhere up there, Dad must’ve been facepalming.
I approached my bedroom and wedged the door open like it was a jack-in-the-box toy and I expected something to pop out. My most valuable possessions lived in a fireproof box beneath my bed. I flipped it open and dug around until I found it.
The clip.
Pearl-shaped emeralds set in a bed of gold leaves.
I curled my fist around it, feeling it for the first time since The Night Of, which marked the end of my streak. Before the fire, I wore the clip every day. It was on my head the night Mom and Dad died.
The night I ruined Leah’s face.
It was only fair that I let her wear it.
Backing out of my room, I knocked on her door.
There was a long pause before she answered.
“Come in.”
I stepped inside and set the clip on the edge of her vanity. “For your date. Put your hair in a messy low bun and tuck it into the crown.”
