“He was standing there?” Briggs asks, sounding surprised. “I thought he was crossing the road.”
“He might’ve been, but he saw the headlights and probably froze.” Parker shrugs. “I don’t know. Maybe he wasn’t standing there. It’s hard to remember. It all happened so fast.”
We’re almost at my house now, and I lean up to Parker. “Look for the mailbox or you’ll miss it. It’s a green metal box.”
“Yeah, I know,” he says. “Everyone knows where you live. There’s only one trailer around here and we all know who it belongs to.”
“It’s not a trailer,” I say, rolling my eyes. “I don’t know why everyone calls it that. It’s a house, and it looks like all the other houses around here used to look until all the millionaires moved in and ruined the neighborhood.”
Parker pulls into the driveway. “Looks like a trailer to me.”
I open my door to get out.
“Hey!” Briggs turns back to me. “You good?”
“No, but there’s nothing I can do about it.”
“I’ll call you tomorrow and check in. Don’t go anywhere in case we decide to meet.”
“I won’t be home. I have to work for my dad.”
“This isn’t an option. We’re dealing with something bigger than whatever other shit you’ve got going on. We play this right, we stay out of jail. We don’t? You can say goodbye to your future.”
I feel that queasiness coming back. “I have to go.”
Racing out of the car, I shut the door and run to the house, stopping when I see my dad sitting in a lawn chair under the carport next to his truck.
“Nice ride,” he says, nodding toward the Porsche as it drives off. He gets up and walks over to me. “You could’ve just told me you were meeting a boy.”
“What? Dad, no! I wasn’t on a date. The truck broke down. I needed a ride.”
“I just had that truck serviced a couple weeks ago when I brought it in for an oil change. It wouldn’t have broken down this fast.”
“Well, it did. I couldn’t get it started.”
I’m shocked he’s accusing me of lying about this. And he thinks I’m doing it because of a guy? He knows I’d never do that.
“So where is it?” he asks, folding his arms over his chest.
“It’s somewhere along that road, but I don’t know where exactly. It was dark, and I didn’t see any signs. We’ll have to go out there tomorrow and I’ll show you. You can see for yourself that it won’t start.”
“You’re telling me it broke down while you were driving?”
“No. I pulled over because it started raining so hard I couldn’t see. I should’ve just left it running but I didn’t and then it wouldn’t start.”
“I didn’t see any rain. Didn’t even see a rain cloud.”
“Dad, are you seriously accusing me of lying about this? Why would I do that?”
“Boys can be very convincing. They can talk girls into doing a lot of things they wouldn’t normally do.”
I walk away from him, furious that he’s reacting like this. I thought I’d get home and he’d race to give me a hug and ask if I’m okay. But instead, I’m getting accused of lying.
“I went to get your part.” I turn back to him. “I was doing you a favor. And this is how you thank me? By accusing me of lying? Why would you even think that?”
“I didn’t until you didn’t show up after sending me that text. And then you wouldn’t answer my call. That’s not like you, Ella. There’s something you’re not telling me. Why’d it take you so long to get home after you sent me that text? And why were you with those boys? Who were they, anyway? Was that the Chadwick kid in the Porsche?”
“Yes, and his friend Parker was driving. They go to my school.”
