Will picks up a pen and writes something on one of his white legal pads in halting strokes. His hand must be killing him. Then he holds up the message.
Go home,it reads.I’ll be right there.
You know what? I’ll ask him about all of this later. Somehow, I’ll find the time.
We’ll be having a different conversation at the apartment. The one where I tell him my dad’s been gone since the storm and I’m beginning to think he’s not coming back.
It’s going to be fine.
We’re going to figure something out, and then I’ll take the advice I’m constantly giving to the twins and give it a chance.
Whateveritis.
I’m on high alert all the way home from Summit. I skip the elevator and climb the steps to the third floor, listening on every landing.
The hallway’s empty.
I’m turning the key in the lock when Mia giggles. It’s a real laugh. A happy one. The door opens on Mia and Ben in the living room. He’s got one of her books in his hands, and from the grin on his face, he’s been reading to her.
Mia always takes this as a hilarious joke, because books are her thing. Numbers are his. But Ben will go along with just about anything if it makes Mia happy.
“Bristol!” Mia jumps off the couch and comes over for a hug. Ben’s right behind her. “We’re hungry.”
“I knew you would be. How was school?”
“I got to spend an extra twenty minutes in the library.” Mia’s proud. More library time is always a victory.
“And I didn’t.” Ben’s joking. Cheerful.
Everything’s looking up.
“Okay. Food.” I head into the kitchen and hang up my purse on a brand-new hook by the cupboards. Mia and Ben trail after me like puppies. They’re fully capable of demolishing a snack drawer without any outside help, but they’ve been careful with the restocked kitchen. I think they want it to stay nice. “What do you guys want?”
“Spaghetti.” Both of them at once.
“Perfect.” I reach into one of the lower cupboards for a pot and start filling it in the sink. Ben brings the salt grinder from the table and puts it next to the stovetop. “I’ll do meatballs, too.” The kind Will bought for us are fancy despite being frozen. “Oh, and I wanted to tell you. My boss—”
There’s a knock at the door. Loud. Confident. Almost sharp.
Mia jumps at the sound, and Ben grabs her elbow and backs up.
“Guys, it’s okay. It’s just Will. I was about to tell you that he’s coming over to talk to me.” Mia’s gone so pale it breaks my heart. This is too much for a ten-year-old. Will’s right. We need a new place, or we need real security. I can’t leave it to him indefinitely, but first, I need him in the apartment with us so Mia and Ben can see that it’s going to be fine. “We were going to go over a couple things.”
I rise on tiptoe to look through the peephole.Wrong,a soft voice announces in my mind. But I’m committed to the act of opening the door. I’mnotwrong. Will said he would be right here.
It’s open less than two inches when my body catches up with my mind.
It’s not Will.
Not Will at all.
It’s a man in a dark jacket, tall and muscled and furious. He’s huge, but too thin in the face. Glittering eyes. A flat, disgusted expression, like a snake. A gun.
I shove at the door to slam it, but he blocks it with his palm. “I’m here to talk to your father.”
It’s him. The man from the hallway. Probably the man who beat up Dad before. I step in front of the gap in the door. “I told you he wouldn’t be back until later.”
His smile is all teeth, and my stomach jitters through my feet and into the floor. “Thought you might be a con artist, too. Thought it might be better if I got here early and waited for him.”