“So is Winter,” Rob countered. “If the best I can hope for is to be friends with her and love her in secret, I’ll take it.”
Rob had her. He’d run circles around her logic. Either he was right, and he was better off pursuing a hopeless half measure with Winter than being without her, or Veronika’s friendship with Nathan was making her miserable. She could take her pick. It was a strange and terrifying thought, that her life would be better without Nathan in it. She was not sure she wanted to travel any farther down that road.
“But what can you do?” she asked. “Winter told you not to contact her. You don’t want to become a creepy stalker, hanging out in places where, if you did bump into her, you’d struggle to explain what the hell you were doing there.” She gestured emphatically at the cathedral surrounding them.
“No, I don’t. I know. But I also don’t want to never see her again. So where does that leave me?”
Rob was waiting for an answer, but Veronika didn’t have one. It wasn’t like she could contact Winter and try to intervene; she’d only met Winter a couple of times while she and Nathan were together. On top of that, Veronika was fairly sure Winter’s decision to make a clean break from Rob was a wise one. Winter might well be the only emotionally healthy person in this whole situation. Veronika wished she could spend more time with her, maybe get her take on Veronika’s situation with Nathan.
Then she remembered Winter had gone out with Nathan, and went running late at night to try to forget him when they broke up. Clearly, she’d had a thing for Nathan. Maybe she wasn’t all that emotionally stable after all.
Veronika did feel a strong connection to her, though, after creating the profile that helped free her. Come to think of it, a lot of people had pitched in to help Winter, including Rob. A lot of people had contributed money to her cause in those frantic months. Everyone would probably enjoy a chance to bask in the success of their effort, to break bread with the prisoner they helped free. How could Winter say no to that?
The question was, wasn’t it in Rob’s best interest to allow Winter to keep her distance? What good would it do to get them together in a room?
Rob was watching her carefully, reacting to her facial expressions with tilts of his head. Shit. She was overthinking things. It would make her friend happy.
Veronika smiled at Rob. “Here’s what we’re going to do: we’re going to throw Winter a welcome-back-to-life party.”
Rob tilted his head farther, as if he’d misheard her. “We’re going to what?”
“We’re going to throw her a party. Or actually, I’m going to throw it. You think she’d come?”
Rob thought about it. “I guess. I mean, how could she say no? She knows the part you played in saving her life.”
The music rose to crescendo; people began to file out. Evidently the service was over. Rob and Veronika stood. “Do you want me to do this? I will if you want me to.”
Without hesitation, Rob said, “Yes. I want you to do it.”
“All right, then. I’ll start sending out the invitations.” A thrill went through her, imagining all of them there together.
As soon as they were outside, she pinged Nathan.
Nathan materialized via screen, followed an instant later by Lorelei.
“Salud,” Nathan said. “What’s the context?”
“I’m throwing a welcome-back party for Winter, and you’re both invited.”
Nathan’s screen bobbed into the air. “Holy shit, what a great idea!” Veronika had no doubt that before the words were out of his mouth, he was already working his system, spreading the word to his friends before they heard it from someone else. Lorelei was probably following suit, though most of her friends would have heard themselves. Did Veronika detect a flicker of envy on Lorelei’s perfectly symmetrical face? How badly did she wish this was her idea, so she could be the queen of the ball? Too late, sweetie.
49
Rob
Since the theme of the party was freedom, Veronika had decorated the space with blue sky and fluffy white clouds. All of the inner walls in her apartment were retracted, and to anyone with a system (which was everyone present) the perimeter of the apartment dropped off into empty sky.
Rob watched Winter from across the crowded room as she laughed with a crowd of well-wishers, who pressed around her, basking in the glow of the moment’s celebrity.
A familiar-looking woman approached Rob, her hand out. “I guess I was wrong about you.” Now Rob recognized her: Winter’s friend, Idris. “I’m sorry I was so terribly mean to you.”
“No, you had every right. I appreciate you providing me with Nathan’s name. If I hadn’t made that connection, Winter might still be in the minus eighty.”
Smiling warmly, Idris thanked him and moved on. Across the room Winter spun, turned in the opposite direction from Rob as Veronika got her attention and introduced her to Lycan, who simultaneously shook her hand and sort of bowed, smiling his big shy smile. If there was ever a gentle giant, it was Lycan. Now that Rob had more time in his life, he wanted to get to know Lycan better. Veronika said he was probably the smartest person in the entire city, which was difficult to fathom.
It took all of his willpower to resist following Winter like a lost puppy as she mingled. He’d considered the possibility that his father and Veronika were right, that his feelings were the result of her total reliance on him while she was in the bridesicle place, and of his desperate guilt-driven desire to please her. When Rob tried peeling all of that away, all he found beneath it was a glowing certainty that he would be in love with her no matter how they’d met. And why was it so unlikely that you could meet your soul mate by hitting her with your vehicle? Why was it more likely you’d meet her at your cousin’s wedding?
The door opened, and Lorelei made her entrance, surrounded by her hovering entourage, her arm draped in Nathan’s. Rob could see Winter’s smile tighten when she saw Nathan. He and Lorelei went right over to Winter, and she graciously shook their hands in turn. Lorelei put her hand on Winter’s shoulder, whispered something in her ear. Winter nodded.
“Let me stand here so it’s not so obvious you’re staring.” Veronika, holding a pink drink in a pouch, took up a position just to the right of his line of sight on Winter.
“It’s too obvious?”
“You’re standing all alone. Your face screams, ‘I’m pining for that woman over there.’ Yes, too obvious.” She sipped her drink. “You don’t have to talk to me.” She waved the back of her fingers at him. “Just go on staring. Move your mouth once in a while so it looks like we’re talking, in case she looks over.”
Rob laughed, despite the weight lodged in his chest.
“Are you going to talk to her, after I went to all this trouble?” Veronika asked.
“I want to. I just don’t know what to say.”
“Want me to feed you lines?” Veronika asked, deadpan.
Nathan and Lorelei turned away. Winter looked right at Rob. Rob smiled, nodded a greeting, his heart pounding.
“Did you just nod at her? Is she looking this way? I don’t want to turn around; it would be too obvious.”
“Yeah, we just said hello.”
Winter put her head down and made her way toward him. “She’s coming over.” His heart thumped slow and hard against his chest as she crossed the room.
“Hi, Rob.” Winter turned to Veronika, squeezed her forearm. “Thank you again for doing this; it’s an incredibly kind gesture. I’m truly touched.”