AllFreeNovel
Share Us
With a groan, I threw my head back and muttered, “Fine,” which made both girls abundantly happy.
Brey chattered full bore about her game as we walked back toward my truck. And as I looked around, watching for cars, I saw her again.
The girl from the roof.
“Holy shit.”
When an SUV passed in front of me, blocking my view, I lifted up higher to see her again, but once the car was gone, the girl was too.
“What?” Brey demanded curiously, while Little slapped a hand over her mouth before announcing, “Foster said the S-word.”
“Did you just…” I pointed in the direction that I’d seen Roof Girl. Then, glancing at Brey, I asked, “Did you just see a girl over there? My age with red-brown hair that’s kind of long with wavy curls.”
“Red-brown?” Brey wrinkled her nose. “You mean,auburn?”
“Whatever! Did you see her?”
“No. Who is she?”
“I don’t know,” I mumbled, shaking my head and then scratching it. “I just—I feel as if I keep seeing her everywhere.”
“Like a stalker?” Brey asked in excitement, and she started to glance around with more interest.
I hissed out an impatient breath. “She’s not a stalker.”
The eleven-year-old merely sent me a look. “Well, youarekind of famous in Westport, being on television all the time. It’s notcompletelyimpossible.”
And Little asked, “What’s a stalker?”
* * *
The tripto the ice cream parlor was just as awful as I feared it might be. Like a heat-seeking missile, Robbie Crowder found me so he could strike upanotherconversation, and his wife wouldn’t stop sending us worried glances as if she feared I was going to tell him everything.
My head hurt and I just wanted to go home. And sleep. Or eat. Fueled by only half a hot dog and a chocolate fudge ice cream cone, I told my sisters it was time to leave fifteen minutes in, which upset them, and neither would talk to me the entire way home.
But I barely had twenty minutes to shower and change before I had to leave for work. And Amy wanted me to pause and watch her model her new dress before I could shower.
At work, I snuck pieces of pizza from the salad bar between my deliveries, and eight hours later, I felt dead on my feet when I clocked out again.
The house was quiet and dark when I parked at the curb, so I used the sliding glass door entrance in the back that led straight into my room so I didn’t wake anyone. The area used to be a play den, but when additional children had come along, it had been converted into mybedroom.
I probably should’ve moved out a couple of years ago to give the family more space, but they seemed to need me around to help out with the kids since Dad worked for the railroad and was gone a lot. We never knew when he’d make it home.
Another perk of having a transformed bedroom was that it had its own three-quarter bath attached to it. Glad I didn’t have to head out into the hall and wake anyone, I popped into the bathroom to brush my teeth and finish my nightly routine before I flipped off the light and collapsed on my bed, exhausted.
But today had been…a bit too much for me, to be honest.
I had no idea how any of my friends were faring or if the girl who’d been in the car accident had even survived the day.
I hated having to spend so much time with the Crowders, and I seriously hoped my past with Emma never did anything to harm their marriage going forward.
And Ireallywished I knew where the girl from last night had gone. Was she still lost and confused? Scared? Alone?
I felt as if I should at least go look for her, but I honestly had no idea where to even start, unless I wanted to drive back to Javonte’s at nearly midnight and walk the beach.
Turning onto my side, I punched at my pillow to beat it into shape and huffed out a breath. I wasn’t going to get any sleep unless I at least checked the sand for her one more time.
But I also really didn’t want to get out of bed.
