Page 67 of The Last Session

“I didn’t get any pictures. My phone was charging.”

“Oh.” His forehead creased.

“I can tell you where it is.” Did he not believe me? “You can go see for yourself.”

“So Steven can catch me?” He leaned forward, forearms on his knees. “Didn’t we agree to wait until tonight to look around?”

Irritation permeated my chest. “It wasn’t planned. I heard something, and I went up to see what it was.”

Jonah’s dark eyes bored into mine. “And Steven caught you snooping.”

“I mean, sorry.” Remorse and defensiveness rose in equal measure. “It was an accident. I’m not a professional like you.”

“I’m just saying, we need to be careful. This is our only chance to find out what’s going on.”

“Well, I found out that Steven and Moon used to live in India together.”

“Really,” he said.

“Yeah. I have no idea when.” I mused. “Do you think they could’ve been together? Like in a relationship?”

“It’s possible.”

“And—what. Now he acts like her butler? Her and herpartner’sbutler? That’s messed up.”

“I think that’s a cult thing.” He shrugged. “Maybe being around her is enough.”

“Romantic,” I said sarcastically.

“I know.” He leaned back on my bed and his hand connected with my diary. “What’s this?”

“My middle school journal.”

He held the sunglassed cat face up to cover his own, and I chuckled.

“Why’d you bring it?” he asked, handing it to me.

How to respond? “Well… I was just thinking about some things I went through at thirteen. I mean, I’m going to have to sharesomethingwith Moon and Sol. We’re not all grade-A actors like you.”

“You think I’m going to act my way through my own session?” He watched as I slipped the diary into my backpack. “I wish I were that good.”

It felt like we’d already spent days in the yoga pavilion instead of hours. At Sol’s request for a volunteer to start the third session, Dawne sprang to her feet. She started crying immediately, announcing that she was afraid she’d never find love. Sol disagreed. Through his questioning, he invoked her ghost lover, whose energies were in line with Dawne’s mother: dismissive, cruel. She chose Karen as the stand-in and ended up weeping in her lap.

Moon’s constant drumming and Sol’s endless questions, along with the rising heat in the airless tent, started making me feel woozy. I was relieved when Dawne’s session ended (ding), ready for a break.

“Ramit?” Moon beckoned. “Your turn.”

No break, then. Ramit stood and exchanged places with Sol. His jaw was tense, his eyes wide. He looked terrified.

“So.” Moon smiled as Ramit sat next to her. “What brought you here?”

“I met Sol at an event and thought it’d be a good idea to come. I just…” He rubbed the back of his neck. “My business partner and I—we’re developers—we sold some games recently to Apple. So I’ve been trying to slow down and date and stuff. But it’s been harder than I thought.”

Moon nodded. “What’s been hard about it?”

“People are just so flaky.” His lip curled, a sudden twitch of annoyance. “And when they do show up, I don’t know… I feel like they just expect all this stuff. I dated this one girl for a few weeks and she wanted me to pay for everything. Which was fine; I can pay for dinners and whatever. But then she started hinting that she wanted this super-expensive purse. I guess she wanted me to buy it for her? It felt like she was using me.”

Moon glanced up, her eyes meeting Sol’s. She looked away immediately, but it felt like something, a message.

---