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I drew in a refreshing breath. The fact that he was on my side made the necessity of being away from him during all of this that much harder.
“He is.”
“He’s a good one, isn’t he?”
My heart fluttered. “Yeah. I think he is.”
The two of us remained together in the kitchen in silence until I broke it again.
“I’m trying to find the silver lining. I could be in jail right now, you know? I feel like the only way to keep my head above water is to move.”
“Hence the cleaning. When was the last time you went outside?” she asked after several moments.
“The day it happened,” I said, embarrassed to admit.
Chloe pushed herself from the floor. She gently took the bucket of dirty water, dumped it into the sink, and then pulled me to my feet.
“Well, then,” Chloe said. “Time to get moving. Go out, get some sunshine. Job hunt. Do something other than drive us both crazy here cleaning.”
My spirits lifted. I nearly laughed. “My cleaning has been driving you crazy?”
You’d think it was the other way around, but maybe we were both so used to the mess by now that anything else wasn’t kosher.
“It’s too obsessive. A little here and there is okay, but sparkling clean? That’s going too far.”
Another laugh crept up my chest, lightening my heart along with it. Chloe was right. I hadn’t just been cleaning—I’d been wallowing.
I couldn’t stay here forever, hiding behind a bucket. Hawk had his efforts in place to try and help me. What was I doing about it?
There was still time before the arraignment. I had no resources. No money to spend on things like private investigators like he was.
I had myself.
And it had to be enough.
A new thought struck. I’d been avoiding Grammy, Addie, and Dad, but what if I could rely on them after all?
Maybe Dad had some insider information, something he’d overheard from Stina or Pris.
Would he tell me if he did? All I could do was ask.
Chloe pulled me into a hug. Her embrace washed over me, pooling inside my soul. I hadn’t realizedhow much I’d needed this: a friend, someone I could talk to, someone who would listen and not judge me.
I definitely needed to call Addie. But first, I’d text Dad.
“I’ve got to get to work,” Chloe said. “Never a dull moment at the recycling factory. Otherwise, I’d go with you.”
“Go with me?” My train of thought was on a different track. “Where?”
“Job hunting,” Chloe said, bopping me on the shoulder before weaving her way out of the kitchen and down the hall toward the door. “Somebody’s got to help me pay rent around here.”
“Ha ha.”
I cleaned myself up, showered, curled my hair, and put on makeup. Every step was like a fresh breath, like the turn of a knob. I was uncertain. I could still go to jail if Hawk and his team weren’t able to find anything.
The fear of that threw me off more than I wanted to admit. I had to do what I could to circumvent it.
Coat buttoned, boots climbing up my jeans, the comfy, red scarf Hawk had given me snug around my neck, I stepped outside my apartment, inhaling the frigid, crisp air, and stopped short.
