Matt and I exchanged glances. He wasn’t the purple type. My smile faded when I realized why Matt disliked purple so much. Amber’s entire room was purple. Matt always said it looked like a grape exploded in there. He must have been thinking the same thing because he lowered his eyes.

Mrs. Davenport gazed out the window. “You know, my daughter loved purple. My son hated it. She always tried to get him to wear purple shirts. He never would. And now…” She turned back to us. “Well, I don’t need to bore you with my drama.”

“I’ll take purple,” Matt said.

It took all my strength not to cry. I clenched my teeth and fought the tears as Mrs. Davenport put a cast on Matt. She had no idea her son was sitting in front of her. My heart ached, and I wanted to tell her the truth. I wanted to let her know she hadn’t lost both her children. I wanted to make up for taking Matt from her and for sending her daughter to Hell. But I couldn’t. If we even tried to explain this, she’d think we were crazy, and she’d call security. That would be the end of Matt’s time with her. We had to stick to the original plan. He was my mom’s nephew. At least he’d be able to see his parents that way.

After the doctor finished wrapping Matt’s hand in a purple cast and made a quick exit, Mrs. Davenport took a black permanent marker from the table behind her and handed it to me. “Want to do the honors?”

I looked at Matt and knew what he wanted. “Actually, I think you should sign it, Nurse Davenport.”

“Oh, please, call me Emily, and I don’t think Tyler wants me to sign it. He doesn’t even know me.”

If only she knew how wrong she was.

“I would like you to sign it,” Matt said. “You’ve been really nice, almost motherly.”

Oh, God, Matt. Please, don’t slip up. Don’t say anything suspicious.

“All in the job description, but if you insist.” She took the marker and signed her name across the back of his hand. She held his hand while she did it, and Matt’s bottom lip quivered a little. I held my breath until she let go of him. “There you go. Now, since you aren’t from around here, I guess this is goodbye.”

“You might see him again. His aunt lives here. He’s going to be staying with her for a while.” He couldn’t stay forever because he wouldn’t age, and people would definitely notice that, but at least he’d have some time before it got risky to be here.

“Oh, really? Who’s your aunt? Maybe I know her.”

“Laura Marshall,” Matt said.

Mrs. Davenport’s face lit up. “I know Laura well. Our kids used to…” Her smile melted away. “They used to date.”

Neither Matt nor I knew what to say, so we stayed silent.

“I’m sure Laura is happy to have you. She’s been through a lot since Jodi disappeared. Not that I need to tell you. You know all about that, I’m sure.”

Matt nodded.

“I can imagine how she feels. I’ve lost both my children. But poor Laura, she never had any closure. She doesn’t know if Jodi is alive or…” Her voice trailed off. Her eyes watered, but she forced a smile. “There I go again. Telling you two about my troubles.”

“It’s no problem, really,” I said. “We appreciate how nice you’ve been.”

“Well, it was really nice meeting both of you. You made me smile for the first time in a long time.” She took one of my hands and Matt’s good hand in hers. “Thank you for that.”

I swallowed hard, afraid if I said anything I’d start bawling.

She let go and turned to Matt. “And, Tyler, I do hope I’ll see you again. We should all get together for dinner sometime after you’re settled.”

“I’d really like that.”

We said goodbye and left. Matt walked slower than a tortoise. He didn’t want to leave his mom. I glanced at the clock in the waiting room. It was mid-afternoon already. We’d spent most of the day in the hospital.

“Hungry?” I asked.

The thought of food seemed to perk him up a little.

“Oh, wait. No money.” I reached into my pockets, hoping to find a twenty stuffed in there, and to my surprise, I did. Attached to it was a pink Post-it note. Buy yourselves some lunch. Mom must have snuck it into my pocket when she’d hugged me. I held the bill up to Matt. “It’s on my mom.”

We drove to Alberto’s. Matt’s idea, of course. It was the place we went on our second-to-last date, back when I thought Alex was stalking me, and I referred to him as Green Eyes because I didn’t know his name yet. I wasn’t sure how Matt was feeling about me right now. He had to have a little resentment toward me. I’d killed him and sent Amber to Hell. He was a great guy, as perfect as anyone could get, but that was too much to get past. Wasn’t it?

“Bagel and vanilla milkshake?” he asked.

“You remember that’s what I had when we came here?”

“Of course. I wasn’t lying when I said I was in love with you.”

Was. So, he wasn’t anymore. That was good. I loved Alex. Things would be easier if Matt didn’t have those feelings for me. But then why did I feel bad about it?

“You had a foot-long sub and ate all of it.” I was suddenly feeling nostalgic.

“I’m surprised you remember.”

“Why? I cared about you a lot. Wasn’t it obvious?”

The waitress came to take our order. I recognized her from school. Wendy Something-or-Other.

“Hey, Wendy,” Matt said with a big smile.

She cocked her head to the side.

“Um, your nametag.” I pointed to the big block letters.

“Right!” She laughed. “You had me for a second.”

I forced a laughed and nudged Matt under the table with my foot.

“Just a little game I play when I go out to eat. It’s funny how many people think I’m psychic or something.” He placed our orders, and once Wendy was out of earshot, he said, “Sorry. I promise I’ll get used to this.”

“It’s okay.” After all my screw-ups, Matt’s were nothing major. “So, back to my question. Did I not make my feelings for you clear?”

“You did, but you were so distracted the day we came here. That guy—” He tapped his finger on his cast and avoided my eyes. “Alex was following you, and there was the whole thing with the school nurse.”

There had been a lot going on. I’d come into my Ophi powers and was suddenly dangerous to every living thing around me.

“I was thinking.” He raised his eyes to mine. “We’re going to see that Mason guy again tonight, and I’m guessing you’ll be going back to…” He swallowed hard and before he could continue, our food arrived.

“Anything else I can get for you?” Wendy asked.

“No, I think we’re good,” I said.

Matt took a sip of his milkshake before he continued. “I’ve only got a few hours to convince you that you’re better off here with me. I want you to allow me to do that. To give me four hours to prove I’m the best guy for you. That this is the life you should choose.” He reached his good hand across the table and laced his fingers through mine.

As much as I wanted to protest, to tell him I loved Alex, I couldn’t. I squeezed his hand.

Chapter 23

Thankfully, Alex had no clue what I was doing here. If he did, we’d be over before I got back to the underworld. If I went back. After everything that had happened, I was doubting my own existence. Maybe Hades was right. Maybe the Ophi didn’t deserve to be alive. We caused pain for the souls we raised. We were better suited for the underworld. At least there, we couldn’t hurt the living. I couldn’t help wondering if I’d been going about this all wrong. What if I should’ve been getting Hades to agree to let us stay in the underworld and help him with the souls in exchange for no more punishments for ourselves? He just might make that deal because it would mean there’d be no more Ophi in the world, assuming he took the remaining few to the underworld with us.

It was too much to think about. I’d promised Matt four hours, and I was going to give him that much. We finished our food and drove to the park. Since it was Saturday, it was pretty crowded, but we found a place on the other side of the lake where it was quiet. Matt grabbed two towels from the pavilion and laid them on the grass. We lay on our backs, staring up at the clouds. The sky couldn’t have been more beautiful.