#Chapter 50: Downpour

Rowena The minutes seemed to tick by torturously slow, the flickering candle in the middle of the table slowly melting further and further down. I wasn’t sure how long it had been exactly, because part of me was too terrified to check the time, but I knew that he was late. He’ll be here any minute, I kept telling myself, shaking my leg nervously beneath the table. He did say he was running late, after all… Except, the longer I waited, the more that feeble reassurance rang hollow. I found myself compulsively checking my phone every few moments, as if willing a new message to appear—but my inbox remained stubbornly empty, almost as though it were mocking me. By the time the first half-hour crawled past, an uneasy knot had formed in the pit of my stomach, slowly tightening with every wasted minute. What if he wasn’t just late, but not coming at all? I tried to cast those thoughts aside, but I couldn’t help it. Heather’s poisonous words slithered through my mind before I cou