Okay. Ace was rather good at sneaking around.
“Nothing to be sorry about. Looks like you got most of it done. You can take off for the night.” He smiled. “Get home safe.”
“Ah, thanks.” Had that much time passed already? Sometimes nights dragged and sometimes they went fast. This was one of the latter. I would go home, eat something, get some sleep, and do it all again tomorrow.
But it was almost summer, so I could work more, which meant saving for my eventual out plan. I grabbed my coat, not that I’d needed it, since it was seventy degrees outside, but sometimes I froze if they overdid it with the AC.
I walked out into the night. The moon hung full in the sky, but it didn’t hold my attention.
Not when Ace leaned against my car.
“You got out of there fast.”
He grinned. “I’m sneaky. Snuck out of my house tonight, for example. It’s what I do.”
Well, that was obvious. He’d gone through the window like an expert. “Why did you guys have to jet out of the library like that? Did you do something wrong? Your father showed up, and you ran.”
“Oh, I wondered if you were sure who we were talking about?”
That was a deflection if ever I’d heard one. Question for a question, but we’d just met, and I was prying.
I decided to act like I didn’t notice. “Everyone knows who your father is, and Rowan’s father. I would have recognized the other dads, too. You guys are the rich folks in town. I’m on the opposite end of the spectrum. Between you and me, there is a world of difference with most other people falling in the middle. I guess your dad is sort of a celebrity just for being who he is.”
Ace rocked back on his feet. “Well…that is more unfortunate than you’ll ever know. If there ever were people that others shouldn’t know, it’s my dad and his friends. Sometimes he notices what I do, and sometimes he doesn’t. This is one of those times that he’s noticing, and not for good reasons. When they show up places, we just leave. It’s easier on everyone.” He patted my car. “Goodnight, Maci. Be careful getting home. Look over your shoulder when you walk to your door. Extra caution, always. You never know what’s out in the darkness.”
I stepped toward him. “That’s very sweet, but I don’t think anyone wants to hurt me. There are better people to rob.”
“If only it was just that you might get robbed.”
I supposed he had a point. Terrible things could happen. A whole bunch of fucking scary things. “Goodnight, Ace. Today has been…different.”
“For me, too. I’m not sure what’s going on, but I’m very glad to have met you today. Drive safe.”
Did he like me? That was the question I asked myself as I drove away. I mean…guys paid attention when they liked you. No, it wasn’t possible. He was vague and a little off, but then again, so was I, when it came down to it. Ace was gorgeous. I wasn’t ugly, but maybe not pretty enough to have caught his eye that way.
I had dark hair and dark eyes. When I looked in the mirror, I didn’t see anything special. My breasts were mid-sized, maybe a little large for my size, and my hips matched them. A little rounder than was fashionable, but I was obviously strong and certainly not offensive to look at.Couldhe like me? Was that why he showed up at my work?
It was dangerous to get my hopes up, but there it was. My hopes. Going up. I locked my car after I pulled into the driveway. It was really my mom’s car, but she was missing, so she didn’t need it anyway. I looked over my shoulder to see if anyone was there as I made it to my front door. Shaking my head, I let my anxiety go. We didn’t have a crime problem, other than my mom and people like her doing a string of petty crimes that put them in and out of jail.
Nothing serious, mostly minor drug offenses. It was a transient town. People came and went a lot. We didn’t see or hear from them again.
An envelope was taped to the door with my name on it. I grabbed it, not recognizing the handwriting, unlocked my door, and entered the trailer. It was hot, so before I could look at whatever it was in the envelope, I turned on the AC unit in the window. It would be a few minutes before it did any good.
A note fell out of the envelope when I opened it.
Question for you…
Molly is in charge of a group of miners. There has been a cave-in. Four people, including Molly, survive, but one miner, Jen, is injured. She needs medical help. It will be 36 hours until anyone can reach them. Molly knows they have enough oxygen for 3 people to survive 36 hours, but not enough for 4 people to survive that long. Should Molly kill Jen to save the others?
What do you think?
Sorry for the weird way we had to leave today. Tell me your answer in math class. —GG
I blinked. He’d left me an ethical dilemma, a famous one. The cave-in dilemma. Huh. I grinned. Why had Griffin done this? The same questions I had about Ace struck me about Griffin. They couldn’tbothlike me. Maybe this was a friend thing.
Had I somehow stumbled into making some friends today?
I grabbed a pen to answer him.