Everything looked menacing and vivid, as though the houses and fences had been sharpened. I focused on the pavement squares under my boots until my jolting heart ebbed to a slow thump of dread.Had Ryan really abandoned me, less than a week after cracking Andrea’s files and calling me beautiful? Surely his phone was just broken or lost, his emails to me bouncing for some reason. Surely he’d be home now, designing a T-shirt in the room where we’d danced and made love.The music grew louder as I approached Ryan’s gate, where someone had tied two balloons. They head butted each other as I opened it and waded through the feathery weeds to the door. I rapped the knocker, first lightly, and then with all the strength I could muster.The door opened, and a loud wave of music poured out around a woman of about nineteen. She had dreadlocks, and a ring through her lip as well as several on her fingers, which were wrapped around a plastic cup of punch.“Hiiiii,” she said. “Welcome to the party.
