“I don’t want to scare you, Mina. That’s really the last thing I want to do. I need you to trust me.”

“And I don’t want to be rude, but trusting a complete stranger who claims to know everything about me is a little difficult to do. You have to understand that,” I responded. “I don’t know a single thing about you. I don’t even know your name. Who are you?”

“Good idea,” she said, looking relieved and more at ease, a small smile back on her face. “Let’s take it a little slower, ease into this a bit more.” She extended her right hand and let it hover over the middle of the tabletop. “I’m Iris, and it’s a pleasure to finally meet you.”

I looked down at her hand, hesitating before giving her a few limp, halfhearted shakes. “Okay, Iris, please just tell me why you’re here, and then I really have to clean up and close this place down for the night. There are people back in the kitchen waiting for me.” And, I wanted to add, I was supposed to be at my boyfriend’s house, hanging out with all my friends and actually enjoying one small shred of my Friday night. But no, I’m sitting here with you, instead. Not quite how I planned on kicking off my summer vacation.

“We’ve decided that it’s time, Mina,” she said, her small voice filled with a startling amount of conviction. “It’s time. We’ve decided that you’re ready, that everyone’s ready. The longer we wait, the more trouble we’ll see, and I think that the world has seen enough trouble, don’t you?”

“Okay, Iris, I wanted to give you a chance, I really did, but to be completely honest, I’m starting to feel uncomfortable having this conversation. Incredibly uncomfortable, actually.” I pushed back from the table and stood up.

“No, Mina, wait. I’m here to warn you . . .”

“Now you’re warning me?” I asked, snapping at her. I could feel the heat spreading up the back of my neck and flaming out across my cheeks.

Iris drew back. Her face pinched inward, making her wrinkles even sharper and more severe. “No, no,” she said, stumbling over her words. “Warn wasn’t the right word to use. I’m so sorry. I’m making such a mess of this, aren’t I? I’m not going to harm you, Mina, of course not. You’re so important, so valuable to us. Keeping you and the child safe is all that matters now.”

“Child? What child? Gracie? What in God’s name are you talking about, Iris?”

Her green eyes, steady and unblinking, pierced me. “No, not your sister. Not Grace. Your child, Mina. Your child.”

I could feel something in my knees starting to give way, a building tremor that threatened to bring me down to the tile floor. I took a deep breath as I backed away, toward the front counter, propping myself up against the glass pizza display case for support.

“I have no idea what you mean by that, Iris, but I need you to leave.”

“But, Mina,” she said, putting her cane down and steadying herself as she tried to push up from the booth. “You need to understand—”

“I don’t need to understand anything you have to say to me. I just need you to leave.”

A bang from the kitchen made us both jump. A very tall, very anxious-looking boy who appeared to be about my age was stumbling through the swinging doors, a big tray of dishes and cups balanced on his forearms. I stared wordlessly at this mystery intruder, sidetracked by his interesting choice in work attire—a bright green newsy cap shoved over messy black curls, and a brown pinstriped blazer rolled up to the elbows under his oil-splattered Frankie’s apron.

“Hey. Mina, right?” he said, walking toward me, oblivious of Iris and the tension that hovered over us like a dark gray storm cloud. “I’m Jesse, Carl’s nephew. Jesse Spero. Tonight’s my first night training in the back.” He grinned at me, and his nervousness seemed to fall away, his whole face lighting up in a flash of two precious dimples and a bright white smile that was made all the more perfect by the tiny gap in the middle of his two front teeth. Had I not been tangled up in one of the oddest conversations of my life, I would have been powerless to do anything but grin stupidly back.

I vaguely remembered Frankie saying something to me about the new kid, though I hadn’t cared enough at the time to ask any questions. But in this moment, he was my new favorite person, my savior, and relief surged through my body.

“Jesse! It’s so nice to meet you,” I said, rushing forward to grab one side of the tray. “Let me help you with that.”

As soon as I was close enough, I whispered into his ear. “The old woman over there is crazy, seriously crazy. I can’t talk to her anymore. I’ll explain more later,” I added, though I didn’t really mean it. For starters I wouldn’t even know where to begin in explaining my conversation with Iris to anyone, let alone a stranger. And for some reason, repeating what she said, even if it was complete nonsense, made me feel uneasy. I’d much rather have just forgotten everything about Iris. Pretended the whole meeting had never happened.

“Would you mind covering for me and making sure she leaves while I go back into the kitchen?”

“Uh, sure, yeah, I guess,” he said, looking over at Iris and then back at me as if I were the crazy person in the room. This wasn’t the best first impression I’d ever made, but given the circumstances, I could deal with my less than stellar showing.

“Thanks, Jesse, I really owe you,” I said, grabbing my phone and my purse from under the counter.

“Mina, no! Wait!” Iris called out. “I need your approval, you have to accept . . .”

“Yes, Iris, yes, whatever you need to hear,” I said, without turning back, already trying to erase her face from my memory.

I pushed through the kitchen door and found Frankie in the freezer taking cheese inventory, and told him that I had to leave straightaway—family emergency, no time to clean everything—but I’d make up for it during my next shift. He waved me off, lost in his calculations. I realized as soon as I stepped out into the back lot that I’d forgotten to grab my pile of tip money from the shelf near the register, but there was no way I was going back to the front of the restaurant. I’d just have to pick it up in the morning. The risk of losing a few twenties was greatly preferable to a second round with Iris. I ran to my old silver Jetta, never more beloved than it was in that moment, jammed the key in the ignition, and drove away from Frankie’s and Iris as fast as the car would take me.

I debated driving away from Nate’s, too, and just heading straight home, where I could hide away under my blankets and wake up tomorrow pretending that this all had been some silly nightmare. But I needed him close to me more than I needed to be alone. Nate was calm and predictable. Nate was solid, always. The world somehow felt much less scary when I was standing next to him, breathing in the same air he touched.

The street in front of his house and the driveway in the back were already packed in with cars, so I parked a few blocks over in an empty lot next to a hair salon. I jumped out and circled my car a few times, hesitating, before grabbing my phone and calling Nate.

“Mina?” he asked, yelling over the loud music and the laughter in the background. “Where are you? Are you still coming?”

“Hey,” I said, relief flooding through me at the sound of his voice. “Can you . . . Can you meet me outside quick?”

“Is everything okay?” He paused, the noise around him fading away. “Hold on. I’m already on my way out.” The phone clicked off.

I sprinted for three blocks, stopping to catch my breath at the edge of the sidewalk outside his house. The front door swung open. Nate stepped onto the porch and flicked the light on, his worried eyes searching for me in the hazy darkness stretching beyond his front steps. From where I stood he looked entirely lit up, his golden brown hair and fair skin glowing under the small circle of light.