Read Escape for Free Online Page A

I—”
    Wait, did he just glance over here? Did I just imagine it?
    Her eyes shot back to Pock-mark as he bit into his Rice Krispie Treat and dropped it back into the bag. She honestly wasn’t sure. She could have sworn that, out of the corner of her eye, she’d just seen him glance over at her and Ed in their little private corner by the wall. But maybe she was making it up? She tried to make eye contact, but at that very moment, he rolled up his brown paper bag and shoved open the door, disappearing around the corner. Gaia felt an impulse to jump up off the floor and follow him, but Ed’s hand grabbed onto her arm and pressed down firmly.
    â€œGaia, what the hell are you looking at? Are you even listening to me?”
    She seemed to literally feel her brain rattling inside her skull. She was so mixed up at this point. What did she want to follow him for? Just to ream him out for his lousy bedside manner? Insult his choice of breakfast treats? Give him more evidence that she was completely deranged by asking him if he was one of them? No way. He was a cue, that’s all. A cue to give up on this worthless Starbucks visit and get back to her search.
    But you can’t leave yet. For God’s sake, look at Ed’s eyes.
    There was no other way to describe Ed’s eyes but desperate. He was the least desperate person she knew, but she, and she alone, had managed to reduce him to a state of desperation. Why did he even bother trying to put upwith her? Why would anyone in his right mind actually continue to love her? The look in Ed’s eyes was dead serious, and somehow Gaia knew that if she did not hold still and give him her full attention at this moment, she would be introduced to a whole new level of regret.
    Five minutes. She had to give him at least five minutes of her full attention, and then it was back to search mode.
    External Crap
    â€œI’M SORRY, ED.” GAIA’S VOICE WAS tinged with that same old ugly futility, and Ed was getting so tired of it. He took her by the shoulders and tried to wake her out of her stupor with his eyes.
    â€œGaia. . . ,” he began, staring deep into her eyes. “We live in a very strange world. . . .” Jesus, Fargo, get to the point.
    â€œYeah. . . ?” Gaia raised her eyebrow with confusion.
    â€œSorry, scratch that,” Ed said, letting go of her shoulders. He gave the wall one good head-bang of his own and slid closer to her. “Okay, look, what I’m about to say will not make any sense to you, but you have to understand. You have to believe what I’mtelling you even if you can’t see it for the undeniable truth that it is right now. And you’ll think it’s pretty presumptuous, and you’ll think that I’m way out of line, but—”
    â€œEd. You’re babbling.”
    Ed cleared his throat. “Okay, here’s the deal. I know that your life is in a total state of crisis basically twenty-four hours a day. I know that literally right this second, there is probably some incredibly urgent life-threatening thing you need to be doing. And I want you to deal with whatever that might be. And I want to help you deal with it. But the thing is this. . . Somehow, in the middle of all these crises, there is something that you must do tonight. Something just as essential to your survival as overcoming all those crises. Gaia. . . somehow. . . tonight. . . you and I must go out on a date.”
    Gaia’s face was blank with confusion. “What?” she uttered.
    â€œA date,” he replied. “A date date. Like you see on TV. We pick a time, we put on unnecessarily nice clothes, I pay for numerous overpriced things, we make the occasional googly eyes, we discuss our dreams and life philosophies, we retire to one of our respective homes, and depending on how things go, we both get lucky.”
    â€œEd,” she began, with that same