I’d had a dream about Lily after Onyx dropped me off. In it, Lily was there, perky and happy, her usual self. Her red curls fell to her shoulders and she had that confident smile that always made me feel better. “So, you’re helping Onyx?” dream Lily had asked as we sat at my parents’ dining room table. It was sleek glass and in front of her was an ornate saucer, with a coffee cup set on it. She was spreading cream cheese on a bagel.

“I don’t think so,” dream me had said. “It’s dangerous.”

Lily frowned, as she set down the silver spreading knife. “But she needs your help, for her brother. Wouldn’t you want her to help, if I needed it?”

And then dream Lily faded away, and there was only a half-spread bagel left, sitting lonely on a plate, next to the undrunk steaming coffee. For some reason, that had been all. No more directive or clues, just that short dream exchange and then she’d left me again.

But it had been enough to make up my mind. I would do this ultra-stupid thing, because Lily was the only person in my life who had never let me down. Lily was the only person who had ever really felt like my family. Not my father. Not my wretched mother. No one. And I should help Onyx. Oh yeah, and of course, I’d have a reprieve on the debt. No interest. Six more months to cull together the funds. That was important. Onyx had been right last night. Lily had always believed in me, never got down on me when I did something stupid. Always said I’d be great when I picked something to set my mind to. And I’d believed it.

But after she died, I’d wondered what the point in trying was. There was no point, because she wouldn’t be there to see it and mom and dad never cared one way or the other. I did stupid, reckless things, spent my way through the trust fund allowance I was guaranteed per the trust, and just asked my father for more, knowing he’d give it to me. I gambled because it was fun, because I liked the thrill of winning, and the losses never bothered me because it never occurred to me that I couldn’t borrow the cash from my father. But now I couldn’t. And I had a huge problem. I could go back to my old ways of asking daddy, or suck it up and try to fix it myself. With Onyx’s help.

So that’s what I was going to do. I was going to prove that Lily had been right about me. That I could do something right, if I set my mind to it, if I focused.

I sighed as I speed-walked through the airport terminal, carrying the small bag I’d take with me on the plane. It was an international flight and you were supposed to be there two hours early. Only I hated getting there so early. I was running a tad late, as the flight was boarding in roughly 10 minutes. First class meant you got to board first, but if you missed the initial boarding you had to fight it out with coach and business people, which I didn’t want.

I arrived at the gate, and there was Onyx, looking gorgeous as ever. Her hair was up in a messy bun and she wore jeans, a blue t-shirt and tennis shoes. She had an oversized purse in her lap and was reading a thick book. I walked over to her, my bag nestled in my hand, and said. “I’m here.” I wondered what she’d think. I hadn’t talked to her since she’d dropped me off. I wasn’t sure if she’d be angry for me not calling, or grateful I’d showed up.

She looked up from her book and a moment later, smiled big, set her things aside, stood and wrapped her arms around me. “I was worried about you,” she said loudly, then kissed my cheek, before releasing me.

I was too stunned to speak, so I didn’t. Just stared at her.

She raised a brow, trying to intimate something to me that I wasn’t getting. She motioned to the empty seat next to hers. “Saved you a seat,” she said.

I sat, placing my bag in my lap. She sat next to me, then leaned in and whispered in my ear, “The vacationing couple cover story starts now. Do better.”

Aha. I guess I thought that was for when we got to India. But, if things went south, it had to look like the real deal all along? I guess that was her thinking. I smiled back at her. “Sorry that I’m grumpy. Traffic was just a bear.”

“I told you to stay at my place last night, and we could ride over together, but you and your work. Going hard until the last minute. Did you get everything done?”

“Yep,” I said back, and noticed one of the gate attendants smile at us. Onyx was good. She’d clearly seated us near the attendant’s check-in post on purpose.

A couple of minutes later, the gate attendant called first class passengers, and when she took our tickets, the gate attendant said to me, “I know traffic is awful, but give her a call. She was worried you would have to grab the later flight.”

I smiled and said, “I tried. Bad reception.”

We walked down the breezeway to the plane, and I looked at Onyx. “What was that about?”

“Oh, Supriyah and I talked a bit earlier,” she said. “She’s from Mumbai, and I was telling her about my family and how I was taking you home to see the sights. She’s excited for us.”

I nodded, amazed at how easily she’d melted into this lie. I wondered if she did this a lot. I wondered if that’s why Lily liked her so, because she could easily mold herself to be likeable. And then, sadly, I wondered if that was the real reason why my parents didn’t particularly like Onyx. Did they know her father was a criminal? Did they suspect she was? Did they think she was a grifter trying to somehow use Lily? My parents were never ones who trusted our judgment. The thing is, Lily never cared. She always made her own way. I always did care what people thought of me. I always wanted them to think well of me, even though they never did.

We got to our seats, and within a half an hour, the plane was taxiing for takeoff. Onyx leaned her head on my shoulder, and I couldn’t help but enjoy her warmth. As easily as she seemed to fall into the part of my girlfriend, it was just as easy to reciprocate, here on the plane, in the lush comfy seats. The flight attendant eyed us with a smile whenever she stole a glance.

Since Onyx was committed to the part, I thought I’d ask her a question that I never have, a question I wanted an answer to, but that had been too hard to bring up in real life. In the life that wasn’t a fake trip with a girlfriend. A question I’m sure she’d answered for my parents, one that I’d been too distraught to hear. But one that I suddenly felt I had to know

“Tell me about your trip with Lily.”

The doting girlfriend recoiled, her eyes widening a frown settling on her face. She shook her head and bit down on her lower lip.

“I miss her,” I admitted. “I just want to know if she was happy at the end.”

Her frown tightened, but then she lay her head on my shoulder and spoke softly. Just loud enough for me to hear over the drone of the plane’s engine.

“We had a great time,” she said. “We were both looking forward to heading back home. I was scheduled to teach, which I knew wouldn’t pay well, but it was what I wanted to do, and she was looking forward to starting her job at the museum. She was trying to convince me to apply for an opening in the geological department there. Said it would be fun, just like old times.”

I smiled. That was Lily. If you just did what she suggested, she always assured you that you would be endlessly happy. And of course, Lily was easy to believe because she seemed, always endlessly optimistic and happy. Anything was possible when she was by your side.

“We were in Mumbai, and we’d just headed out to for a walk, you know, just to explore the area. We’d gotten downstairs from the hotel and crossed the street, when she realized she’d left her phone upstairs. She wanted to take pictures, and I told her she could just use mine. Still, she was worried we’d get separated. And she ran back across the street, and that’s when the car hit her.”

I wondered if she was thrown across the street, if she were bloodied and bruised, or if her injuries were mostly internal. Mother told me she’d died shortly thereafter. Railed against the backwaters of that “third-world society and lack of good medical care.” But I suspect, even in America, she would have died. Some injuries you didn’t recover from, no matter how good the medical care.

“They tried to do everything for her,” Onyx said. “I held her hand, the whole time, but she was...she was gone, even by the time I ran to her. There was nothing that could be done.”

I nodded. “I know,” I whispered.

“I know your parents blame me,” she whispered back. “But I didn’t know that would happen, and if I could have stopped it...”

“They don’t blame you,” I lied. They shouldn’t blame her, at least. But in the eyes of Richard and Laura Harper, the world was supposed to be a just place. It was always supposed to do right by them. If things went askew, if the world did do them wrong, then it was a miscarriage of justice that had to have been caused by some other person. For them, Onyx was that person. They’d been cool to her the first time they met her, which probably cemented Lily’s like of Onyx. And at the funeral, they were just short of outright rude. They blamed Onyx for putting Lily in harm’s way, even though Lily had been so eager for that trip. Onyx clearly didn’t believe my lie.

“It’s nice of you to say,” she said. “But you don’t lie very well.” She lifted her head, and looked me in the eye. “You need to work on that.”

I laughed. “You’re blunt.”

“Pussyfooting around an issue doesn’t help.”

“How old are you, anyway?” I teased. “I thought only old men talked about pussyfooting.”

She rolled her eyes at me, and then reached into the area under the seat in front of her, pulling out her bag. It was a large leather purse, more the size of a briefcase, but because it was a woman’s she’d get the luxury of calling it a purse. From it she pulled a yellow legal pad and a pen. “So, this is what I thought we’d do,” she said, showing me the paper.

On it were several columns, each headed by a day of the week. “It will be late when we arrive, so we can grab dinner, hang out a bit and rest up.”

I nodded.

“First thing tomorrow, we can do some sightseeing, and maybe grab lunch with that old friend of mine”

The job. Of course, I nodded.

“There’s the Iskcon temple. That’s beautiful, so we should make time to see that. Maybe do some local sights, and then we’ve got that diamond factory tour you arranged. That should be interesting.”

I nodded. “Yes, what girl doesn’t like sparkly things.”

She grimaced. “I’d go look at chalcopyrite if I just wanted to see something that sparkled. It’s got great luminescence, is much cheaper, and naturally glimmers regardless of cut. The entire point of going to a diamond factory would be to see the actual luster they can get with the right cut and polish.”

I rolled my eyes. “OK, Ms. Geologist.”

“Besides, I want to get some pictures for my students. One of them, Keisha, I think, would like to see how things work in practice.”

I nodded. Her students. If I had a teacher like her when I was growing up, I don’t know that I would have been able to concentrate on learning.

She tapped the paper with a manicured nail. I wondered when she’d had time to get them done? Spending her money before she earned it. Hadn’t expected that. “I like your nails,” I said.

“Thanks,” she said, offering a mild smile. “Painted ‘em last night.”

“Oh,” I said, realizing I’d made a wrong assumption. “I figured you went to a salon.”

She shook her head. “Nope. I like to do them myself. These turned out well. It’s called Rebel with Great Claws!”

I raised an eyebrow. “Is that true?”

“Of course,” she said with a grin. “I would never lie to my sweet Ryan. And I couldn’t make up such a ridiculous name for a nail polish.” She tapped the legal pad again. “Anyway, does the trip plan so far sound alright?”

Her smile was magnificent, beautiful. Her big brown eyes had a bewitching luster to them, even on this dank plane full of recycled air. “Sounds good,” I said. And it did. I wished we were just a couple seeing the sights. She would be fun to visit places with. Only, I knew this was a ruse, so I expected we’d do very little of what she described. The truth was, she hadn’t bothered to fill me in on anything at the diamond factory. I suppose it was better that I didn’t know.  I swallowed.

“You look tired,” she said. “You should get some rest. It’s a long flight.”

I nodded, and closed my eyes.