Emily woke up early, her mind whirring like a broken fan. She checked her email. Still more messages from Russell. Just days to go before the final draft of her thesis was due. He must be mad. He’d liked the old draft and the new one was so different. He hadn’t approved the changes, she hadn’t even shared them yet. She considered opening the messages, but shut down her computer instead, then crept down to the dining room and crawled under the table like she used to do when she was little. Now that she’d remembered that secret space, it was all she could think about.
She looked up and scanned through the pictures and I love yous.
Ayala had written I love you to Simon. Why was that bothering her? Why couldn’t Emily herself ever say it that plainly? That was another dimension of the persona
