ALEKSANDR: you have no idea how glad i am that i was born second.
DMITRI: Be at my place in a half hour.
My head is packed to bursting as I drive home. The whole time, I try toforce Wren and her smile out of my head. But it’s still there, even as I walkinto my living room, feeling the weight of the day settle on my shoulderslike boulders.
Ignoring the siren call of the minibar, I slip down the hall towards Wren’sroom. The door is unlocked, so I push it open quietly and step inside.
She’s fallen asleep with the curtains drawn wide. Moonlight cascades intothe room and pools around her where she’s curled into a tight ball in thecenter of the mattress.
As I watch, she moans and thrashes the top sheet off of her, revealing thatshe abandoned the
