Page 90 of Devil in Disguise

“I’m … sorry,” she said on a gasp. “I just … I can’t …”

He didn’t answer. He just held her tighter, and she kept on crying until she was all the way cried out, until she was clinging to him, limp in the tears’ wake, and he was setting her down, saying, “Go on and wipe your face on my shirt.”

“I can’t …” She had a hand over her nose and mouth, and now, she was trying to laugh.

“Owen,” she heard, “no woman wants to wipe her face on your shirt. Honestly.” A few Kleenex thrust into Dyma’s hand, and she was mopping up, streaks of black eyeliner mingling with everything else.

Oh, wonderful. She was beautiful.

When she finally looked up, she realized where the Kleenex had come from. A tall, rangy, dark-haired woman.

Oh, no. She said, “Are you Owen’s … mom?”

“Yep,” the woman said, sounding exactly like Owen. “Joan. This is Waylon. Owen’s dad.” Who looked like an older Owen, and wasn’t smiling much.

“Oh, great,” Dyma said. “This isn’t how I planned to meet you. See, I’m normally … I’m normally …” She was choking up all over the place. She wasnotdoing well.

“Oh, honey,” Joan said, and gathered her into her arms. “You’ve had a real bad week.”

Which made Dyma cry some more. On hersecondperson. Maybe Owen’s dad would take a turn, too. And then Harlan.

Wonderful.

* * *

Owen wasn’t quitesure what was going on. This wasn’t Dyma. Harlan looked worried, too, as much as Thor ever did manage to look worried. Annabelle looked shocked, so Dyma must have kept it together all day getting here.

Oh. He was stupid. He should’ve figured that out. She’d had to keep it together for way too long. She’d had to be tough, because she could always manage to be tough. Sometimes, though, tough came at too high a price.

And, just maybe, seeing him again was catharsis. Maybe she’d waited to fall apart until she was with the person she trusted to hold her through it.

It took a while, but finally, his parents and Annabelle were checked in and settled, and he was hauling Dyma’s luggage into her room. Everything she’d brought from Seattle, because she’d be flying straight back to Portland after this.

For the couple of weeks they’d get to spend together before she went to Seattle again.

She said, “Give me a second, OK?” and vanished into the bathroom, and he found the luggage rack and set her suitcase on it and her duffel beside it, and wondered,Now what?

She came out with her face washed and naked of makeup, looking young and vulnerable as a new-hatched chick, and said, “So I guess your parents really think I’m awesome now.”

He had to laugh, then, didn’t he? “You know, I think they get it. Hey, life’s full of ups and downs. That’s not front-page news. Come on. Sit down.” He pulled her down with him on the bed. “What’s really going on?”

“Oh, you know.” She tried to shrug, then wiped her nose with a Kleenex. “Just … my life kind of falling apart?”

“Your life isn’t falling apart. You finished your first quarter of college. First one’s the hardest.”

“Except that I couldn’t pull it out on that last exam. And Pavani told me that her mom asked if I was still a virgin, so I had to call her and tell her no.”

“Wait. You had to call who?”

“Pavani’s mom. Mrs. Banerjee.” She wiped her nose again. “I couldn’t make Pavani lie for me, could I? I was gone all night before the Seahawks game. What if her mom asked her? And anyway, after she’d given me all those cooking classes and everything? So I called and told her that you and I had taken it to the next level after I told her I was a virgin. That we were in love, and I wasn’t ashamed of what we’d done, but I was sorry that I hadn’t been honest with her. That I’d wanted so much to keep rooming with Pavani, but that was no excuse. You know. Trying to take responsibility for my actions. Not like I could have done anything else,” she added with that burst of candor that was so wholly Dyma. “It was pretty obvious.”

“Huh,” Owen said. “What did she say?”

“That she’d have to talk with Mr. Banerjee, and they’d decide. Which means … I don’t even know what. What do I do for a roommate after this? If I’m kicked out twice? I thought college was going to be this great time, that I’d be opening up to all these possibilities, but all I’ve done is …” The tears were leaking a little again. “Fail.”

“Now, wait,” he said. “First off—when you own up and take responsibility, that’s not failing. That’s stepping up. And second—how else have you failed?”

“Electromagnetism. Well, I didn’tfail,but I sure didn’t get an A. I’ll be lucky if I even got a B minus, and that’s what I got on the midterm, too, so …”