Total pages in book: 53
Estimated words: 51131 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 256(@200wpm)___ 205(@250wpm)___ 170(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 51131 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 256(@200wpm)___ 205(@250wpm)___ 170(@300wpm)
When I walk up the stairs, it’s impossible not to wonder what it was like for her. Did she run up these same stairs, terrified, with him on her heels? Is she reliving all of it as she walks through our home?
Parker doesn’t balk when I tell her I want her to sleep in my room tonight. It’s been years since she crawled into my bed to go to sleep, but there’s no way I would be able to sleep with her anywhere else.
As tired as I am, I can’t seem to fall asleep even with her right next to me. I lie in bed with my eyes burning and my emotional stores entirely depleted. I’m desperate to sleep but surprised by the overwhelming emptiness I feel.
I know it’s just because I’m exhausted. I’ll feel better after a good night’s sleep.
The dark room lights up, and I glance over at my phone on the bedside table.
I look over to make sure Parker is still asleep, and when I see that she is, I grab my phone.
It’s a text message from Hayden that simply says, “It was all him and his friends.”
“Were they here tonight? Why aren’t they in trouble, too?”
“They bailed on him,” he texts back. “They were game to spook her but not to come inside the house. When he went in the house, they drove away so they didn’t get in trouble, too.”
“Some friends,” I text.
“Yeah.”
Our conversation is at its natural end, but for some reason, I don’t want to put down the phone. I feel comfort just looking at the screen and seeing his words.
The phone dims while I look at it, but then it brightens again, and I see three bubbles on his side to indicate he’s typing.
“I’m sorry we didn’t get to finish our date,” he says.
“So am I,” I type back, but it makes me feel sad.
“I really want to see you again.”
I sniffle and type back, “No. I’m sorry.”
“I understand,” he says.
This feels more like a breakup than my last actual breakup did. I want to keep talking to him so I don’t feel so heartbroken, but I know it’s just delaying the inevitable.
I type out Good night, Hayden, but then I backspace it and send a message that reads, “Goodbye, Hayden.”
I wait for him to answer that one, but he doesn’t.
The screen dims, and still I wait.
I don’t want him to say goodbye back, but part of me does because I need to know he understands I really mean it this time.
Before, it may have been hard to resist him. I said no and knew I needed to mean it, but this time, it’s different. This time, I mean it mean it.
I wait, and I wait.
I fall asleep with my phone in my hands.
But he never texts back.
Chapter Thirteen
Gemma
Life gets back to normal in the days that follow.
I’m off work for two weeks between summer recitals and the start of my fall classes. I always schedule it that way so Parker and I can spend a lot of time together before she goes back to school, knock out any shopping that needs to be done, cram in a few last late nights of staying up watching movies or bad TV shows we won’t have time for once school starts.
Parker notices I’m staying in every night and assures me that I don’t have to. “I’m fine,” she insists. “I’ll keep the door locked. I bought a Taser. I don’t want you to be afraid to go out and live your life just because I go to school with a lunatic.”
I smile faintly. “I’m not afraid,” I tell her, but that’s a bald-faced lie.
She doesn’t have a child, so she can’t understand the helpless terror I felt that night when I saw those missed messages. Before I knew the entirety of what had happened, and the absolute worst-case scenarios were playing out in my imagination. When I thought for a horrifying moment that I was being felt up on the beach by a man whose son may have been hurting my daughter, or even worse.
I don’t know Landon Atwater. I don’t know what he’s capable of.
“You just…” Parker starts, but trails off unhappily before she can finish.
I glance over at her. “I just what?”
She shrugs, looking at me. “You seemed happy.”
Tears sting behind my eyes all of a sudden, but it must be my period coming on because there’s no way I’m getting emotional over this.
I force a smile and grab a Twizzler. I tell her I am happy, and she lets it go, but I can tell it’s still on her mind.
I’m so reluctant to leave her home alone that I put off grocery shopping until Friday. We’re out of food to make dinner, and Parker wants to spice it up with chicken tikka for dinner tonight, so I have to make a supply run.