"No. I'm sorry." She reached across the front seat to touch the warm flesh of Joseph's arm. The solid muscle she felt beneath his skin reassured her about the rightness of her decision. She didn't have to worry about anything now. Joseph would keep her safe.
The road widened and traffic thickened around them. Buildings became closer together and much larger, some with parking lots bigger than all of Eternity. On the horizon a cluster of buildings rose into the sky, touching the clouds. She pressed her face against the window in disbelief that such huge, magnificent places could exist in real life. "What is this place?" she asked Joseph.
"This is Bangor, or at least one of the suburbs. The actual city is over that way where those big buildings are."
"Are we going there?"
"Maybe later. Right now we're going to have some good old-fashioned teenage fun," Joseph said. He turned into a parking lot, a sprawling white complex filling the windshield. This must be bigger than the whole island, she thought.
Joseph stopped the automobile in a parking spot at the edge of the lot and turned off the engine. "We're here," he said. He opened his door and then came around the front of the vehicle to open hers. He held out a hand to her. "Let's go."
She took his hand and followed him through the parking lot to a pair of tinted glass doors with the words, 'Bangor Mall' printed on them in white letters. A shopping mall, she thought. She stood in the doorway with Joseph for a moment, gaping at the rows of shops that seemed to go on forever.
A group of teenage girls drifted past them, giggling about something. She thought back to the girls in the high school, a hand instinctively touching her face. "You're beautiful," Joseph said. "You don't have anything to worry about."
She lowered her hand, scraping it across her dingy jacket. Underneath, she still wore the ill-fitting clothes of Mr. Pryde's dead wife. The taunts of the girls at the high school rang in her ears. "I shouldn't be here," she said. She spun around and ran out the door, back towards the parking lot.
Joseph caught her arm, whirling her around to face him. "Samantha, get a hold of yourself. There's nothing to be scared of. You're more beautiful than anyone in there."
"But nobody in there is wearing a dead woman's clothes."
"Is that the problem? We can fix that. Come on." He tried to lead her back inside, but she refused to move. "Sam, you have to trust me. I'm going to take care of everything."