Coming into Coronado over the Bay Bridge, Ryan and Neil felt dazed, for only then could they perceive the magnitude of their effrontery against Ryan’s parents, the authorities, her friends—even Cindy and little Craig. Ryan was too bewildered, too lost to even realize she was returning on the very day she and Lia had marked on their calendars two months before: the day X was set to play over in San Diego.
In the final mile before Ryan’s house, Neil nudged the car forward at the pace of a hearse leading a funeral procession, and indeed they were dead, hovering as they were like gloomy spirits over the corpse of their mortal passion.
Having abandoned their initial plans for an adolescent wedding, the reason for their prodigal return was not because they’d been too consumed with one another
