Chapter 18

Josiah felt a deep frustration simmer in his chest when he realized that he no longer mattered to Priscilla. The feeling stuck with him all the way back to where he was staying. Even as he lay in bed, his mind kept drifting back to the encounter with Priscilla that evening. He sensed that there was something different about her, something that wasn't there when she was with him. He didn't want to admit it, but Priscilla had changed. She was better, brighter, and more radiant. She stood out now and was impossible to ignore. He thought about how he'd borrowed a stranger's phone and made over a dozen calls to her that evening, not one of them going through. The memory left him even more agitated. Her name lingered in his mind all night. Even when he was with Brittany, his thoughts kept drifting back to Priscilla and to the man who had been with her. Brittany, too, was thinking about that man. She thought that he didn't carry himself like an ordinary person. Compared to Josiah, he see