AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Her tone is accusatory, and I don’t miss her meaning.
“No,” I lie. “Well, maybe. I was thinking about seeing Lisa. Is she still around?”
“She should be,” my mom says. “Her parents still live around the corner.”
“Thanks.”
She acknowledges me with a nod before she leaves.
“So, you dance now?” I ask Emma.
“Yeah,” she says. “Not as good as you, but I try. Are you going to come and watch me?”
“Maybe,” I tell her. “I’m not sure how long I’m staying; I have to get back, you know. I didn’t exactly plan this out.”
“Well, I have rehearsal in an hour. You could come to that if you wanted.”
“I’d love to, but…I do have a few things I wanted to do.”
“Like see Lisa?” she asks.
“Yeah. And buy Christmas presents.”
“For me?” she asks.
I nod. “For you.”
“I’ll allow it then,” she says.
“Okay,” I laugh, shaking my head.
I leave her to her routine and head upstairs to get ready. I turn on the water in the bathroom—that still looks the same, down to the stain where the sign used to hang on the wall. I wait longer than I remember for the water to heat up and, once it finally does, I’m reminded what it’s like to shower with abysmal water pressure and temperature, and I’m not impressed.
You keep me warm, and I’ll keep you here.
I rinse my hair and towel off, then pull on a pair of black leather pants and pair it with a red sweater. My hair is almost down to my waist now, and I’ve dyed it dark brown underneath. I take my time curling it, even though the curls never last very long. I do the same with my makeup, then slip into a new pair of black-heeled Prada boots.
When I get back downstairs, Emma has already left. I have two voicemails from James but don’t listen to them. I need to see Ty—I need to get it out of my system—and I don’t need anything to weaken my resolve right now. Besides, it’s still easier to keep the girl from Lost Hollow separate. He doesn’t know her anyway.
I close and lock the front door, but one look at my car tells me I won’t be going anywhere for a while.
“Fuck,” I mutter.
I don’t even have an ice scraper.
Luckily, there are a couple of extras in the old garage; still, I curse throughout the entire process, and by the time I finish, my fingers and toes are numb from the cold.
Yeah, these aren’t real winter boots. At least the car had plenty of time to warm up.
I back out of the driveway and head left, not toward Lisa’s house at all. It only takes a minute to get there; I park the car and surprise myself with how easy it is to get out of the vehicle and walk to his front door.
Muscle memory. That must be it.
“Hey, Stella,” I say when she opens it. She doesn’t recognize me at first; I see it in her eyes the moment she does, and I’m surprised at how they harden. “Is Ty here?”
“You have some fucking nerve,” she says, shaking her head. “I mean, you always did—but this is something else.”
“I just want to talk to him,” I tell her.
