Page 105 of Creeping Beautiful

Donovan looks over my shoulder. Maybe at the crib. Maybe at the tractor. Then his eyes find mine. “She came to see me.”

“Who?”

“Indie.”

“When?”

He lets out yet another long breath. Shoves his hands in the pockets of his slacks. “Twice, actually.”

“And you didn’t tell us?” I’m… kind of stunned about this revelation.

“The first time was about two years ago. She stayed the weekend with me. And I was gonna call you guys on Monday, but when I woke up, she was gone.” His eyes go soft, like they’re pleading with me to understand. “I was gonna call you. I swear. But then she wasn’t there and I felt like… like maybe you didn’t need to know. I get it, McKay. I understand how you feel, but I have feelings too. And I love her just as much as you do. I looked for her, but…” He takes his hands out of his pockets and shrugs with them.

“And the second time?”

“The second time she just… she was just… watching me.”

“What do you mean?”

“Outside my apartment. I saw her on the street from the front window. It was raining and—”

I laugh. It’s always raining. The air outside the shed is a mist of drizzle right now. Calm, but with the threat of more to come.

“—by the time I got downstairs, she was gone. And then… I started thinking I made it up. So I didn’t call that time, either.”

“When was that?”

“About a month ago.”

“Hmm. She was watching me too. For ten days, she said. What do you think it means?”

“I dunno, McKay.” He looks over his shoulder at the house. Indie is coming down the porch stairs holding a bundle of blankets in her hands. He looks back at me. “I think she remembers. Some things, at least. But maybe not the things we want her to, ya know? So we need to be careful.”

“You don’t need to tell me that.”

“I just left another message for Adam. He didn’t respond.”

“No surprise there. She wants to kill him. Did she tell you that? She came back because she thinks he took Nathan and did something with him and now she wants revenge.”

“Yeah. She told me. She says she wants us to help her. She’s just mixed up, McKay. She’s not gonna kill him.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I started talking her through it. She understands. Or at least she’s starting to.” Donovan turns and calls out to Indie, because she’s close now. “We’re having movie night? I can’t wait.” And then he picks up a handful of cushions and walks off to start putting the pavilion back together.

I watch them as they meet up under the protection of the high-pitched pavilion roof, smiling and joking like there’s nothing to see here. Then I turn back to the shed and walk behind the tractor as I take out my phone, bring up Adam’s contact, hesitate for a moment, then press call.

It rings four times, then the voicemail picks up. “You got me. Leave a message.” I hang up at the beep and decide to text him instead.

When are you getting here?

I stare at my phone for a few moments, watching as it says ‘delivered’. But it doesn’t say ‘read’. I haven’t talked to Adam in a while. So that might be his phone settings. But then again… maybe he just didn’t read it.

And he doesn’t answer back. So. Whatever.

I make several trips over to the pavilion and drop off bags of cushions while Donovan and Indie unpack them and start placing them in their appropriate places on the outdoor furniture. And pretty soon the pavilion is starting to feel like home again.

The next time I look at my watch it’s after three and I’m starting to get hungry.