I’ve just finished up and am collecting my car keys to head back to pick up Bailey and Londyn when I hear the grumbling of an engine outside. Peering out the window, I spot my dad’s truck parked in the driveway.
He hops out with a duffel bag slung over his shoulder and peers around sketchily before rushing up the driveway and ducking into the garage/shed.
“Just what are you up to, Dad?” I debate on whether to go out and ask or spy on him.
Since going out and asking gives him the opportunity to lie, I decide spying is the better choice, so I wait by the window and watch.
After being in the garage/shed for only a minute or two, he hurries back outside with a shovel and makes a beeline for the backyard. I scramble to the washroom where the window gives me a better view of the area.
Confusion instantly sets in as I watch him start to dig a hole near the back fence. He doesn’t dig for very long before dropping the duffel bag into the hole. Then he covers it up with dirt, returns the shovel to the garage/shed, gets in his car, and takes off down the road in the direction he drove off in last week.
I’m about to go out and see what the hell is in the bag—because whatever it is, it can’t be good—when I receive a text from Londyn.
Londyn: Are you coming to get us? I’d really like to get away from this place ASAP.
Realizing I’m late, I bail on digging up the bag. For now anyway. The second I return home, however, I’m so finding out.
Before I leave, I knock on Payton’s door and ask her if she wants to go with me.
“I’m never going back thereever!” she shouts.
I sigh. “You know you’re going to have to eventually.”
I sigh again when she doesn’t respond.
Resting my forehead against the door, I blow out a breath. “Just come with me please. I’m only pulling into the parking lot. You don’t even have to get out of the car.”
When silence is my only response, I give up and start to back away when the door swings open and Payton moves into the doorway.
“Fine, I’ll go. But we’re stopping at the gas station and getting me a soda on the way back.”
I nod, relieved but trying not to show it, knowing she’ll just get upset again. “All right, sounds like a plan.”
Nodding, she brushes past me and starts down the stairs.
“Hey, did you by chance notice Dad burying a duffel bag in the backyard?” I ask as I follow after her.
She shakes her head as she steps into the kitchen. “No. Why?”
I shrug. “Because he did.”
She opens the door and steps outside, casting a quick glance over her shoulder at me. “What was in the bag?”
I close the door and lock it up. “I have no idea.”
A beat of silence passes as our gazes drift to the backyard.
“We should probably go look and see, right?” She returns her gaze to me as she walks up to my car and pulls open the passenger side door to get in.
I nod, digging the keys out of my pocket. “Definitely. But we need to pick up Londyn and Bailey first.”
“I can’t believe they stuck it out today,” she mumbles after we get in the car.
I slip the keys into the ignition and start up the engine. “I know you might not want to hear this, but eventually you’re going to have to go to school. And I’d prefer for that to be sooner than later.” I shift into reverse. “I don’t like the idea of you being home alone if Dad’s going to be burying bags in the backyard.”
She fastens her seatbelt. “What do you think is in it?”
I shrug as I steer down the road. “Drug money? Drugs? When it comes to him, nothing surprises me anymore.”