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stopped in her tracks. Instantly, her heart jumped up in her throat, forcing her to swallow it back down again.
    “Wait.” She shook her head and tried to convince herself that she had misheard. “Say that again?”
    “Which pa rt?”
    Emilia dropped her backpack and ran to the window to peek through the blinds. Sure enough, there was a sleek, gray vehicle with tinted windows parked in the last row of the parking lot.
    “How long has that been parked there?”
    “At least an hour. I saw it there when I took my fifteen, but I figured it was just somebody who got turned around, rerouting their GPS or something.”
    “Yeah,” Emilia said. “Makes sense.”
    “There is definitely somebody in there, though,” Claudette said, moving to join her at the window. “When I went to the dumpster, I saw somebody moving in there.”
    Emilia squinted but still couldn’t see anything.
    “Should we call the cops?”
    “ No,” Emilia said, shaking her head. “I-I’m going to go check it out first.”
    “What? Really?”
    She nodded, trying to will the blood to stop rushing in her ears. There was nothing else Emilia needed to know who was in that car, and every molecule that made her up pulled her to him.
    “Wait , Em. At least let me write down the license plate—”
    But she was already out the door with her feet on the pavement.
     

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter 3
     
     
    Reunited
     
    She was just as lovely as he remembered. More beautiful perhaps , with a flushed complexion and freckles brought out by the sun. Kasper didn’t know whether it was her sheer exquisiteness that gave him such pains or the awareness that he was partially to blame for why it had been undermined in the past summers. He had kept her trapped like some slave, scrubbing his house and dusting his shelves. Maybe last summer when he let her go, she had blossomed, come to life like a fire in the dark. Kasper certainly hoped so.
    Right away, he took in her simple t-shirt and denim shorts that stopped just before her knees. He was grateful then that at least that had not changed, as that was what he envisioned her wearing (at least when he envisioned her wearing anything). And Kasper continued to stare at her mercifully as though he had x-ray vision. He very much liked how her hair was pulled high and it bobbed, moving like a wave as she walked towards him—wait! Towards him? She was walking towards him? 
    If he had sped away when she first walked out the door, he might have had a chance, but it was far too late now. She was only a few yards away, and it would be much too conspicuous, much too pathetic to drive away without being noticed.
    Kasper willed his hands to be steady and opened the door. Without air conditioning, the heat of the summer air assaulted him immediately, and it was just one of many instances he wished he was not trapped under a wig and gloves, long-sleeves, plastic parts, and a mask.
    She stopped when he sta ggered from the new Jaguar, a poor decision, he realized too late, as the seating was not equipped for his lengthy frame and a long drive. As a result, his legs had fallen asleep and would not cooperate. He silently cursed everything, including his last minute planning, Mrs. Levkin and Aasif equally, but himself above all others. Still, Emilia’s expression remained indifferent, her only change in position being how she crossed her arms over herself and looked away. Kasper could not blame her. She probably thought he was drunk, and he could only imagine how shameful he appeared.
    “Hello ,” she said.
    “I- I…” He coughed, tried again. “Hello.”
    “What are you doing here?”
    “I wanted to see where my money was going. I was unaware that was against the law in this state.”
    “ I see.” She nodded. “So the donation did come from you.”
    He looked at the ground and clutched his hands. Kasper had hoped she would respond to his comment, his attempt at dry humor, but she did not even smile, and it made