CHAPTER 20
For days Eddy managed to successfully avoid Juliet beyond pleasantries, and procession. This did not happen without considerable effort. He stayed out of the house as much as possible by wandering around the city, or squatting in bookstores. He also enjoyed reading at grave of his real mother, Eliza Poe, the quietest place of all. Meanwhile, Eddy tutored Robert Stanard every chance he got. The job guaranteed the chance to see Jane, whom he was growing fonder of by the day. 
But Eddy had to go home eventually, and when he did, he made it a point to enter through the front door. Juliet could answer the door, but not pass through it, and since Eddy wasn’t knocking, it was entirely unlikely he’d ever run into her. Never the less, the house on 14th and Tobacco Alley wasn’t especially big, and when he had the misfortune of bumping into Juliet, he was always cordial. 
 “Hello, Eddy,” she would said.
 “Hello.”
 “You sure been workin’ hard on that report. Why don’t you read some of it to me?” 
 “Sorry,” he would say. “Too much to do,” and off he’d go. End of story. 
All along, Juliet seemed to accept every excuse Eddy gave her, although his growing insecurity suggested she might be placating him. 
She’s not buying this, he would tell himself. After all, biding her time was a hallmark of Juliet’s nature, and he knew it. 
In response to his guilt, Eddy found a way to rationalize the grain of truth to his actions. Each night since visiting Eudocia at the plantation, Eddy threw himself into his essay, sometimes skipping supper altogether. He had never been so passionate about a project as this; the perfect escape from a life he hated. Night after night, he heard the big grandfather clock in the hall strike its longest chime, and more often than not, he would also hear it strike its shortest too. On and on it went like this for a fortnight until late one evening, Eddy cracked his cramped, ink-stained knuckles, and closed his notebook for good. His essay on Shakespeare, Macbeth & the Curse of Black Magic was complete.