Hugo sat in the empty chair on the other side of the table. He didn’t speak. He poured the tea into the cup, the steam rising up in wisps. He set the pot back down on the tray before lifting the cup and setting it on the table in front of the woman.
She ignored it, and him.
Hugo didn’t seem put out. He folded his hands on the table and waited.
Wallace wondered if this woman was another ghost, a spirit like himself. But then a man came to the table, putting his hand on Hugo’s shoulder and speaking quietly. The man nodded at the woman before leaving out the front door.
Hugo and the woman stayed that way for almost an hour. The woman never drank from the proffered tea, and she never spoke. Neither did Hugo. It was as if they were simply existing in the same space.
When the line at the counter had thinned, Mei came back into the kitchen. “What are they doing?”
Mei shook her head. “It’s not—I don’t think it’s my place to say.”
Wallace scoffed. “Does no one here actually say anything of any substance?”
“We do,” Mei said, opening a pantry door and pulling down a plastic tub filled with individual packets of sugar and creamer. “You’re just not hearing what you want to hear. I know it might be hard to understand, but not everything is about you, Wallace. You have your own story. She has hers. If you’re meant to know what it is, you will.”
He felt properly rebuked. And worse, he thought she had a point.
Mei sighed. “You’re allowed to ask questions. In fact, it’s good that you do. But her business is between her and Hugo.” She carried the tub toward the doors. Wallace stepped out of her way. Before she went through, she stopped, looking up at him. She hesitated. Then, “Hugo will probably give you the specifics if you ask, but know she has her reasons for being here. You know how you’re my first solo case?”
Wallace nodded.
Mei gnawed on her bottom lip. “Hugo had another Reaper before me. He’d been with Hugo since he started as a ferryman. There were … complications, and not just pertaining to Cameron. The Reaper pushed when he shouldn’t have, and mistakes were made. I didn’t know him, but I heard the stories.” She brushed her bangs back off her forehead. “We’re here to guide, to help Hugo and the people we bring here. But his first Reaper forgot that. He thought he knew better than Hugo. And it didn’t end well. The Manager had to get involved.”
Wallace had heard that name before. Nelson had called him a nasty fellow. “The Manager?”
“It’s best you don’t know him,” Mei said quickly. “He’s our boss. He’s the one who assigned me to Hugo and trained me on how to reap. It’s … better when he’s not here. We don’t want to draw his attention.”
The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. “What does he do?”
“Manages,” Mei said as if that explained everything. “Don’t worry about it. It has nothing to do with you, and I don’t think you’ll ever have to meet him.” And then, under her breath, “At least I hope you won’t.” She pushed her way through the doors.
Wallace looked out the porthole again in time to see the woman—Nancy—looking as if she were about to speak. She opened her mouth, and then closed it. Her lips stretched into a thin, bloodless line. She stood abruptly, the chair scraping along the floor. The din of the tea shop quieted as everyone turned to look at her, but she only had eyes for Hugo. Wallace flinched at her expression of rage. Her eyes were almost black. He thought she was going to reach out and strike Hugo. She didn’t, instead stepping around the table and heading toward the door.
She stopped only when Hugo said, “I’ll be here. Always. Whenever you’re ready, I’ll be here.”
Her shoulders slumped as she left Charon’s Crossing.
Hugo watched her through the window as she walked away. Mei went to the table, putting her hand on his shoulder. She spoke qui etly, words Wallace couldn’t make out. Hugo sighed and shook his head before gathering up the teacup and putting it back on the tray. Mei stepped back as he rose, lifting the tray with one hand and walking back toward the kitchen.
Wallace backed away quickly, not wanting to get caught spying. He pretended to be studying the appliances as the doors swung open and Hugo entered the kitchen. The noise of Charon’s Crossing picked up again.
“You don’t have to stay back here,” Hugo said.
Wallace shrugged awkwardly. “I didn’t want to get in the way.” He knew how ridiculous that sounded. He didn’t know how to quite put into words what he really meant, that he didn’t want people to be walking around （or, heaven forbid, through） him as if he weren’t there at all.
Hugo set the tray near the sink. “This place is yours as much as it is ours while you’re here. I don’t want you to feel trapped.”
“I am, though,” Wallace reminded him, nodding toward the cable. “Remember? It was a whole ordeal last night.”
“I remember,” Hugo said. He looked down at the tea in the cup, shaking his head. “But while you’re here, you can go anywhere on the grounds you wish. I don’t want you to feel like you can’t.”
“Why do you care if I feel trapped?”
Hugo glanced at him. “Why wouldn’t I?”
He was so goddamn frustrating. “I don’t get you.”
“You don’t know me.” It wasn’t mean, just a statement of fact. Hugo held up his hand before Wallace could retort. “I know how that sounds. I’m not trying to be flippant, I promise.” He lowered his hand, looking down at the tray. The tea had cooled, the liquid dark. “It’s easy to let yourself spiral and fall. And I was falling for a long time. I tried not to, but I did. Things weren’t always like this. There wasn’t always a Charon’s Crossing. I wasn’t always a ferryman. I made mistakes.”
“You did?” Wallace didn’t know why he sounded so incredulous.
Hugo blinked slowly. “Of course I did. Regardless of what else I am or what I do, I’m still human. I make mistakes all the time. The woman I was sitting with, Nancy, she’s…” He shook his head. “I try to be the best ferryman I can be because I know people are counting on me. I think that’s all anyone can ask for. I’ve learned from my mistakes, even as I continue to make new ones.”
“I don’t know if that makes me feel any better,” Wallace said.
Hugo laughed. “I can’t promise I won’t screw up somehow, but I want to make sure your time here is restful and calm. You deserve it, after everything.”
Wallace looked away. “You don’t know me.”
“I don’t,” Hugo said. “But that’s why we’re doing what we’re doing now. I’m learning about you so I know how best to help you.”
“I don’t want your help.”
“I know you think that,” Hugo said. “But I hope you realize that you don’t have to go this alone. Can I ask you a question?”
“If I say no?”
“Then you say no. I’m not going to pressure you into something you’re not ready for.”