“I’m fine,” I say, flipping on the blender. “We’re all fine.”
Hannah sidles up next to me. Once the blender drowns out the noise, she whispers, “I’m taking notes.”
“Just wait,” I say, and pour the smoothie into a cup.
I turn back to Magnuson and slide the drink across the counter to him, then I pick up two straws. “Small or big?” I ask.
“Excuse me?”
I hold the straws up beside my face. “I like the big ones. They’re easier to suck, especially with a thick smoothie, like yours.”
“Oh,” he says, after a beat too long. “Sure. I mean, that’s fine.” Then his eyes drop down as he fumbles with his wallet.
Olivia positively squeaks in shock behind me, and Hannah pulls her into the back, shutting the door behind them.
I don’t even flinch, my smile locked and loaded, as I set the straw down on his drink lid.
As he pays, Mr. Magnuson’s eyes flick to the back room, where we can hear Hannah and Olivia’s muffled giggles.
When he’s halfway to the door, I say, sweetly, “See you soon, Mr. M.”
He turns and looks me right in the eyes now. One corner of his mouth lifts in the most delicious smile I’ve ever seen. “Looking forward to it, Sarah Lynn. And, hey, if you ever need to talk, just let me know.” All my bravado drains in an instant. I swear my knees nearly buckle, as though someone has ripped the floor out from under me.
He strolls out the door, and the girls come tumbling back into the room, cackling.
“I can-fucking-not,” Hannah says between wheezing breaths.
“You’re a menace,” Olivia laughs.
But I can barely hear them over the humming of my skin.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONECAT
The Silverado followed me for three right turns until I finally shook it, pulling into the entryway of a private pasture. Then it was forced to pass me by. I never got a good look at the driver.
I parked the car and called Mark. I couldn’t tell him about the truck—he’d only worry. So I made my voice light, asked for the keys to our old storage unit, said I wanted to grab some of my clothes. What I really wanted were his old trail cams from when he and Sheriff Ryan shared a deer lease years back.
Back at Sherman Ranch, I crouched in the trees to set one camera pointed at The Hollow, with the wind clawing at my hair, the dark pressing close. I tucked another into the bushes across the street, so it faced the model home. The cameras are out-of-date, their footage stored on SD cards instead of the cloud, so I’ll have to check them physically.
But if that Silverado comes back, I’ll catch it. I’ll prove to everyone I’m not going crazy.
Now I can’t stop peeking between the blinds. Every time I hear a car pass. Or think I do, only to find the street dark and empty. The temperature has dropped and the wind is howling through the trees, moonlight shimmering on the leaves so they look like silver coins shaking from the sky. I keep hearing snatches of voices on that wind. The ice falling in the freezer makes me jump. The heaterclicking on sends irritating goose bumps across my flesh. There is too much noise. All around me. Inside my head. I keep pausing the TV, sure I heard something new beneath the dialogue.
I get up to make tea, hoping the warmth will settle me, and that’s when I see them in the pantry: seven bottles of champagne.
Is that going to be too much of a temptation for you?Kennedy Claire had asked today at orientation.
Mark had alluded to the same thing. JCW Heritage Homes offers champagne during every house showing, and a free bottle of the good stuff if you sign a contract. Happy couples sip mimosas on all their billboards.
We don’t have to do that, Mark had said.It’s dumb.
I’ll be fine, I assured him, and when he paused a beat, I added,You can count them, if you like. If he does, he does it discreetly.
It is the quiet I miss. Standing in the open pantry, I close my eyes and press my hands over my ears, suction my palms to them, and listen to my own heartbeat, like when my mother pressed a shell to my ear on a trip to Galveston, and an invisible ocean surged and swayed through my mind.
I pull my phone from my pajama pocket to reread the last text Olivia sent me:
Tomorrow at noon, right?