Despite her surprise, Libby refused to look as thrown as she felt. “I’ve heard so much about you. What a pleasure to
finally meet you.”
Imani didn’t return her smile. “Have you seen the courtyard? It’s so much quieter out there. I’d love to show it to you.”
Libby’s stomach churned as her eyes darted toward the opposite side of the room. How long would Reagan take with the landlord?
“Come on,” Imani insisted. “I’ll be quick.”
As Libby followed the strange woman that had once shared her life with Reagan, she knew Imani had no interest in showing her anything. She was, however, sure that she was about to get a piece of her mind.
“I
didn’t even know this was out here,” Libby confessed against her will when they stepped outside. The u-shaped courtyard was covered in obviously new artificial turf and was beautifully decorated with fountains and string lights.
“Listen, I’m not trying to ambush you here, but I’m not one to waste time, and I know Reagan’s been waiting for you to do her big reveal,” Imani started only a moment after darting for an empty corner where they’d have some privacy.
Libby clenched her jaw and waited with raised eyebrows.
Imani’s face softened, but only a little. “Obviously, I don’t know you other than what I’ve found online, which is surprisingly a lot of flu and very little substance. That fact alone raises about a dozen red flags for me. Why haven’t we met you?”
The question was a punch to Libby’s gut. Was she accusing her? Had she figured out the holes in their story?
The last thing she wanted to do was tell another lie, and while she formulated some way to respond with a truth that wasn’t incriminating, Imani spoke again.
“I’m not some hateful or intolerant bitch,” she explained in a low voice when someone new entered the courtyard.
Libby knit her brows together in confusion. “I know there’s
such a thing as being bisexual, obviously. Or some people figure out who they are a little later in life. And maybe you’re the kind of straight, or formerly straight, girl that falls for the person not their gender.” Imani waved a hand in the air.
“None of that is any of my business.”
“What are you trying to ask me exactly?” Libby’s tone was harsher than she intended, but Imani was all over the place and confusing as well as mildly terrifying.
“What I’m saying is,” she paused in open irritation, “I don’t know what your particular deal is, but I know Reagan.
When she falls, she falls too hard and too fast. If you asked her to stay a secret all this time that y’all were supposedly together, then she would’ve done it for you whether it put her back in the closet or not.”
Libby opened her mouth to dispute the facts, but she couldn’t without confessing. The weight of the secret continued to pull her further into the depths of a bottomless black lake.
“Like I said, I’m really not trying to learn the details. If I haven’t gotten them from her, I don’t want to go behind her back to get them from anybody else. All of this is to say that you need to protect her even if it’s from herself. She’ll give you the world, and you have to be so careful not to take it.”
Imani’s voice cracked and her eyes filled with unshed tears.
“She’ll never put the oxygen mask on herself first, and if you love her, you’ll always be watching for that.”
In that moment, Libby was able to see that behind the caustic delivery was a person who cared about Reagan very much. She relaxed her shoulders and nodded. “I promise,”
she said, meaning her pledge with every fiber of her being.
“Libby! Reagan’s looking for you! She wants to pull back the curtains,” Taylor shouted from the doorway before disappearing inside.
After reaching what Libby hoped was an armistice, she followed Imani through the crowds to where Reagan was standing with a microphone in front of a massive black curtain suspended from the ceiling. It was her private space where she’d kept so many pieces under wraps and away from prying eyes.
When she caught sight of Libby standing at the front of the densely packed crowd. She grinned and then tested her sound. While Reagan greeted everybody and acknowledged just how many people had come together to make the event possible, Libby’s eyes drifted to the side. She’d intended to see how Imani was looking at Reagan, when she noticed her family was standing with Reagan’s family.
Oh God. What have they been talking about?