C22 TWENTY TWO

Sweet Discourses

DEREK

and all these woes shall serve For sweet discourses in our time to come.

— William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

TIME LUMBERED FORWARD thick and slow, like sap frozen to the bark of a tree, stuck forever in its last drip. It had been two days since I'd heard from Rose, despite numerous phone calls, emails and texts. I was starting to feel like a stalker but