the dead wife best, though because she was a girl and the most interesting character, Sin had dark suspicions she might turn out to be evil.
She did not air her suspicions. She kept her head down, hoping questions about the Gothic tradition would not hit it.
She needed to pay attention and catch up, but she could not keep her mind off the question of the pearl. If Mae was right and Seb had it, the person with the best chance of getting it from him was Mae’s brother. Sin had to act first.
She tried to think of anything she could possibly do, and tried not to think of anything else.
Mae becoming a messenge There was a knock at the classroom door. Sin jolted out of her reverie so hard she almost knocked her book off the desk; only her fast reflexes saved it.
Ms. Black walked over to the door and opened it.
“Hello,” said Alan, and as soon as that gentle, courteous voice hit Sin’s ear she hurt her neck looking around. Alan was wearing a suit jacket and had his hands clasped, a particularly solemn and responsible look on his face. He seemed older somehow. “I’m a social worker the hospital assigned to the Davies family?”
“Oh,” said Ms. Black, and shot a quick, guilty look at Sin.
“You heard about the incident?” Alan asked, as if quietly grateful to have a fellow adult who understood the situation and could sympathize with him. “I’m sorry to disrupt your class—”
“Oh, no,” Ms. Black said. “Not at all.”
Alan gave her a grave smile. “I’m afraid I must ask if I can take Cynthia Davies away from her studies. There are some forms at the hospital that require her signature. Routine, of course, but without them…”
“I understand completely,” Ms. Black said.
Sin shoved all her books into her new bag at once and was rising to her feet before Alan murmured, “Thank you.”
There was a little park a few streets away from Toby’s day care. Sin told Alan to drive there. They could talk, and she would be close enough to get Toby even if the talk went wrong.
They didn’t speak much on the way. Sin leaned her forehead against the car window and hushed feelings of excitement trying to clamor within her. She’d been happy too soon last night.
The park was basically a bit of grass and trees fenced around, but at this time of day it was deserted, and that was good enough. They sat on a rise of grass between trees and a path. Alan was a little awkward sitting down. Sin forced herself to watch and keep her face impassive.
When they were sitting down, Alan turned to her. “I’m sorry for being such a jerk.”
They were not touching, and Sin lowered her head so she wasn’t looking at him. “Okay.”
“I’m really sorry,” Alan said. “I can’t—I can barely believe I acted that way. I’ve thought about someone saying that to me for years. I had it planned out in my head. Which is pathetic, I know. It went a hundred different ways.”
Sin bowed her head. “It was just never me saying it.”
“Well—no,” Alan said.
Sin laughed past an obstruction in her throat. “Oh, keep going,” she said. “You’re doing
“I never imagined you,” Alan said quietly. “My imagination’s not that good. I never thought that was possible. Even when I started to want it.”
Sin raised her head. “Just so you know? First time you’ve made that clear.”
“Right,” Alan said. He looked pale, and Sin realized she could finally, tentatively, start to be happy again. “I’m really messing this up, then.”
“Yes,” Sin told him.
“I’m not very good at human emotions,” Alan said. “I know that’s creepy. I have an aunt and cousins, and a few months ago I tried to get back in touch with them. I thought we could have a blissful family reunion, and it didn’t—it didn’t quite work out that way. I keep thinking of human love as something from the picture books my mother used to read to me, something fixed in pastel colors. Something sure.”
“Something perfect?” Sin asked. “Like Mae?”
Alan looked startled. “But I told you how it was with Mae. I told you I lied to her, and I couldn’t make myself stop, and I couldn’t make myself be sorry enough.”
“Here is a tip for you about romance,” Sin said. “If you tell a girl another girl is perfect, that’s the bit the first girl tends to focus on. Also, telling a girl another girl is perfect is really dumb.”
“Thank you,” Alan said. “I need all the help I can get.” He paused. “Also, Mae is not perfect.”
Sin looked up at him from under her eyelashes. “And me?”
“I don’t lie to you,” Alan said. “I lie
Sin stopped looking up at him from under her eyelashes and burst out laughing.
Alan went red. “So I’ve just realized how that came out. Uh.”
Sin laughed and laughed. She had to cover her face with her hand and laugh into her palm, leaning into Alan a little.
“Oh, Alan Ryves,” she said. “You’re such a fantastic liar. You are the smoothest con man of them all. Who could resist that silver tongue?”
Alan laughed and leaned closer, his shoulder solid and warm against hers. “I was all set to grovel,” he told her.
