Shaking my head, I looked over my shoulder at Jennifer. “So, I’m not really sure how all this works,” I whispered. “Do you know how she died?”
“Brain tumor,” Joaquin said matter-of-factly.
My stomach clenched. “Oh my god.”
He popped open a bottle of beer and took a swig. “Yeah, it was pretty quick, though. Only a month between diagnosis and pffft.” He made a deflating sound with his lips, like letting the air out of a balloon.
“Wow. How very respectful of you,” I said sarcastically.
“What? She doesn’t know she’s dead,” he said quietly. “All she remembers is that she was diagnosed. As far as she’s concerned, she’s on vacation, and she’ll be outta here in a day, anyway. Kid spent half her life volunteering with underprivileged children and the other half being polite. It’s just too bad she won’t be here longer so she could get a chance to sow an oat or two.” His e
yes flicked over her like he was considering the possibility of helping her out with that particular situation. I shot him a withering look and turned my back on him.
“Hey! I’m just doing my job.”
“Whatever,” I said. “So how do you—”
But when I glanced over my shoulder, Joaquin was already gone. He’d moved down the bar to tend to the clamoring throng, leaving me with my unanswered questions. Like how, exactly, he knew all these things about Jennifer. Whether he was going to be the one to usher her. How these new souls were assigned to Lifers in the first place. Were they assigned? Or was I supposed to just start chatting someone up and see if they were ready to move on?
I took a deep breath and sighed, wishing Tristan would show up already.
“I know, sucks in here, right?”
Startled, I looked over and found myself staring into the dark brown eyes of one of the new arrivals—the guy in the ripped jeans who’d seemed so lost when he’d stepped off the ferry today. He had a tiny scar through his eyebrow and didn’t seem to know what to do with his hands; he touched the back of his neck, crossed his arms, then hooked his thumbs into the front pockets of his jeans.
“Totally,” I said.
“You live here?” he asked, standing next to me and gazing down at the drinks menu.
I hesitated for a split second. “Yep, uh…yeah. I’m Rory. Rory Thayer.”
“Brian Wohl,” he said, lifting a hand. “Just got here from North Carolina.”
“It’s nice to meet you.”
“You, too.” He looked up at Joaquin, who had reappeared in front of us. “Can I get a beer? Whatever’s on tap.”
“You got it.” Joaquin quickly filled a mug for him.
I wondered whether he had the same gut feeling about Brian that Tristan had had this morning, but he just went right along tipping bottles over glasses, digging ice out of the freezer, and chatting with the customers. Brian sipped his beer while the room around us buzzed and hummed and laughed and clinked.
“So, Rory. That’s a nice name,” Brian said eventually, leaning one elbow on the bar. I felt awkward, sitting while he was standing, but there were no seats to be had.
“I’ll tell my dad you think so,” I joked. He raised his eyebrows at me in question. “He picked it.”
“Oh.” Brian took a swig of beer, then sucked his teeth. “I don’t know who picked my name. I never thought about it.”
“One or both of your parents, I’d guess,” I said.
“The thing is, I can’t really imagine them doing it,” Brian replied. He ran one finger around the rim of his mug on the bar, his eyes downcast. “I can’t imagine them caring long enough to think about it.”
“Oh.” Now I was the one who didn’t know what to do with my hands. I tucked them under my thighs and cleared my throat. “That sounds rough.”
“Sorry,” he said, his neck turning blotchy. “That’ll kill your conversation, right?” He let out a sharp sort of laugh as the blotchiness spread to his cheeks.
“No, no. It’s fine.”
I had the sinking feeling that I was very out of my element and glanced down the bar toward my sister, as if she could somehow telepathically tell me what to do. But I couldn’t even see her from where I was sitting, the crowd around her was so thick. Brian sighed and shook his head, like he was annoyed at himself. At least we were in this sinking boat together.