NINE
“I THINK I’M HANDLING this very well,” I said after a few minutes of watching the night slide by the car window. We were approaching the town and the familiar humpbacked bridge. “Mind you, the only other available option is to completely lose my mind, so I don’t have much of a choice, but still, I believe I’m taking this all very, very well. I’m not screaming or laughing hysterically, or even crying, although somehow, I feel like doing all three.”
He patted my blanket-covered knee. “I appreciate the fact that you are restraining your hysterical tendencies. This is a...” He hesitated for a moment. “...difficult situation.”
“This prince guy, you mean? I have to tell you, Theo, I don’t believe in hell any more than I do in heaven.”
He drove in silence for a few minutes. “Just as the
