Page 102 of Deck the Hauls

Emily frowned. “It’ll be dark soon. Are you sure it’s safe? Maybe you should wait until tomorrow.”

I cleared my throat. “I think it’s best I go tonight.”

Emily didn’t sound convinced but for all we knew, Phillip’s private investigators could still be following us. Better to leave before it caused her even more stress. Better not to draw out our parting. It would kill me, spending another night under the same roof, knowing it was our last one together.

We trudged back to Emily’s house from the station. My chest tight and fighting tears, I threw my clothes into my bag, said goodbye to her parents and jumped in my truck for the long drive home alone.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

EMILY

I sat at my parents’ dining room table, staring at the Sapphire Springs snow globe as tiny flakes fell on the miniature Main Street.

I couldn’t believe how much I missed Dana, and it had only been a couple of days since she left. I’d called her yesterday, but my call hadn’t gotten through. She’d tried calling back, but by then I’d been on a shift at the restaurant. I’d ended up texting her instead to let her know the article was coming out tomorrow. I hadn’t bothered to tell her my good news: I’d been called in for an audition for a role in a sci-fi thriller that sounded terrific. Once the news story came out, would the casting agent still be interested? I’m doing the right thing. I want to take that fucker down.

My phone pinged.

I’m free to talk now. What’s up?

I stood up. I needed to stop wallowing and instead focus on something I’d been putting off for the last few hours.

I took a deep breath. I was dreading this discussion, but it had to be done. The alternative was my family learning about it from the news. I couldn’t do that to them.

I walked into the living room, my stomach swirling with nausea.

“Mom, Dad, are you free?”

Mom looked up from her historical romance. “Yes. What is it, sweetheart?”

Dad put down his phone, and leaned forward on the couch.

“I’m just going to call Lucia. There’s something I want to tell you all,” I said.

Mom’s brow furrowed. “Is everything okay?”

“It’s…” My voice caught in my throat. I really wish Dana was here. “I’ll tell you once I’ve got Lucia on the phone.”

I sat down and dialed Lucia’s number.

“Hey, what’s going on?” Lucia asked.

“I’ve got you on speakerphone with Mom and Dad.”

“Okay.”

I could tell from the tone of Lucia’s voice that she was worried. I took a deep breath then released it slowly.

Mom and Dad watched me with creased foreheads. Lucia was quiet.

The Christmas tree lights glowed in the corner. I could understand why Dana had ended up hating Christmas when so many bad memories were tied to it. Would that happen to me, if this all went wrong?

Oh, god. I swallowed.

Say it. The longer it stretches out, the worse it will be. If Dana were with me, it would be a thousand times easier.

“Tomorrow there’s going to be an article in the paper about Phillip, the director of Clique.” Okay, that was the easy part done.

“An article?” Dad said, frowning.