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My stomach clenches at the thought. “Do you think he will?”

“No. No, I think he’ll come back for you. To spend a bit more time with you, before…”

I swallow hard. Theo believes that, once I am exorcised from him, I will go home. Perhaps he is holding out hope that he and Ben can be together when I am gone. What will he do once he finds out the truth—that Ben offered himself to me? That I planned to take full control of him once we were joined, and that neither of us ever planned to involve Theo in this? I am even more desperate to speak to Ben now. I must release him from our deal. I must leave them both in peace, so they might have a chance at happiness together, without me.

After we eat, I ask Theo if we can walk to the park to see Monty and Roger. In truth, I need to move my body and take my mind off the situation. Theo is quiet as well, and I nearly drive myself crazy trying to figure out what he is thinking while he searches for a sweater to wear. It has been getting colder each day, and I still do not like it, but I create some warm winter clothing, then we pack up a few containers of food and go out anyway, arm-in-arm.

On the way to the park, Theo pulls us into a store to buy a few pairs of thick socks and other items for Monty, and some treats for Roger. When we walk back outside, I see his friend Mak standing on the corner, passing out more fliers. She certainly is persistent.

“Makie!” Theo calls, waving at her and grinning. I am struck by how different he is than the last time we ran into her. Of course, the last time, I had nearly pushed him too far and he was panicking. I cannot stand to think about it, but then I remember that I am supposed to be Annika, the exchange student from…Sweden?

“Theo!” Mak calls back, bouncing over to us. Her hair was pink and purple last time we saw her, but shehas now added a turquoise stripe down the middle. “How are you? You look great! And it’s…Annika, right?”

“Good to see you,” I say quietly, in what I hope is the same accent I used before.

“Are you still out here pestering people?” Theo asks her.

“The adoption event is on Tuesday,” Mak says, “I’m just trying to get the word out! Are you gonna come?”

“Yeah, we might swing by. It’s a fundraiser too, right?”

“Cash bar and kitties!” says Mak with a grin. “I saw that Ros posted a picture of Dante and Virgil at her new place. I know you really loved those guys and I’m sorry.”

Theo shrugs, but I know he is sad about the cats. “Well, they did technically belong to her.”

“You need to adopt!” Mak squeals, her eyes wide with excitement. “Oh, Theo, it would be perfect! The shelter hassomany sweet cats right now!”

“Well…” Theo says, his eyebrows going up, “yeah, maybe. I’ll think about it.”

“I would like to go and see the animals,” I tell him with a smile. His eyebrows go up even further, and I am sure he is remembering the way Ros’s cats avoided me like the plague, and the way dogs on the street bark at me–except for my sweet Roger, of course.

“Well, you can’t refuse now, Theo,” Mak tells him firmly, winking at me. “By the way, Zayd was running in the park last week and said he saw you walking around with some guy..a reallyhotguy?”

Theo’s cheeks turn red. “Oh, uh…yeah, that’s just…he’s my new roommate.”

“Gay? Straight? A secret third option?” Mak asks with a smirk.

“Uh…” Theo stammers, glancing at me for a moment. “I didn’t exactly screen people by orientation, Makie.”

“Oh, well, definitely bring him with you, because Zayd seemed pretty interested in finding out,” she laughs. Theo’s face twitches slightly. Is he jealous?

“For sure,” he mutters. “See you soon, Makie. Cash bar and kitties. Can’t wait.” They hug each other, and Mak gives me a rather awkward side hug, then bounces down the street with her fliers.

“Will you really adopt more cats?” I ask.

“I’m not sure. I might not be in the best place to take care of more animals, what with no job and…”

“And me…Dante and Virgil did not like me.”

“They always took a while to warm up to strangers.”

I think he is just being kind, so I remind him, “They liked Ben immediately.”

“Everyone likes Ben immediately,” he replies. I can only nod in agreement. We walk in silence the rest of the way to the park, where we find Monty and Roger sitting on a bench near the lake. Roger has his head on his paws, watching the swans and whining loudly. When he sees us, his tail begins to wag and I kneel down beside him to rub his soft, floppy ears.

“Well, howdy there!” Monty says warmly when he sees us. “Where’s that no-account Father Ben gotten to today?”

“He’s…uh…visiting someone…at the hospital,” Theo says, passing over the containers of food we brought.