“I was in a car wreck,” she says.
“Just now?”
She snorts out a laugh.
I pull a table over so she can set the tray down in front of us.
“My face,” she says. “The bruises. They’re still obvious. I was in a car accident, and I’m still recovering, and that’s why they’re there. The bruises, I mean. And the scar.” The words are rushed together. “The car didn’t have airbags. It was older, so…” She takes a breath. The rushed words and how she’s looking at me, assessing how I’m taking her words means that she could be nervous or lying.
She bends down to pick up one of the plates. “Butthisis what I wanted to share. The pie. I remembered I had two pieces.”
“You just remembered, huh?” I take the plate from her. “I think you were deciding whether I was worthy of sharing your pie, and that’s why there was no mention of it before.”
“You’ll never know, will you? But if that was the case, can you blame me? I can only fit so much pie in my bike basket.”
“Looks like Ned rigged it so you can fit a whole pie in there now. Maybe a couple? And plenty of whipped cream for your nose.”
She snorts, then sits and nibbles at her piece of pie.
“When Ned was here, he mentioned a secret compartment somewhere in the house,” she says. “Do you know anything about it?”
“No.”
“He wouldn’t tell me where it was.”
My phone dings, and I put my empty plate down. “Sorry. Let me just make sure everything’s okay.”
Lacy: Skye said the route from Paradise Springs to May Ranch is starting to flood. Are you home?
I stand. “Unless you want me bunking with you on our first date, I have to go.”
She stares blankly at me for a moment, and I’m almost kicking myself for calling this a date until her whole face lights up like a Christmas tree. “Hold on!” She runs back and returns with the book. “You probably won’t have a lot of reading time in the next couple days, but I’m done with this.” She stands on her tiptoes, leans in and kisses me on the cheek. “Thank you,” she says softly.
10
HONEY
Everything’s wet.The sand is mushy, the dirt paths are mud, and a huge tree has fallen, blocking Monster and my path to the Lake Rosie beach. Monster takes a running leap over it, and I consider it, before realizing that it’s been a while since I’ve leaped and if something goes wrong, I don’t want to have to seek out medical care. It would dip into my cash, and I have no real form of identification or health insurance under my fake name.
The Lake Rosie beach is quiet and unoccupied except for a man with a metal detector searching for treasure. He waves and yells out, “That was some storm. Washed up a lot of debris. Watch your step.” He puts his headphones back on and moves far enough down the beach that I can call Cat and not worry about anyone hearing what I’m saying.
I let Monster off the leash. “Stay close, big boy.”
Cat answers on the second call, third ring. “Please tell me you aren’t on the eastern coast where that monstrous storm hit?”
“I’m not.”
She’s silent. Probably figuring out how to get me to really tell her where I am. “Well, wherever you are, stay safe, Honeycake.”
Monster plops a big pile of gunky wet weeds at my feet, looking up at me with his big, brown eyes, hoping I’ll love the offering he’s brought me. I try to let Monster be as much of a dog as he wishes. I let him sniff and bite at the wind and play in the waves, but the things he brings to me can be incredibly disgusting.
“I’m sorry, but you can’t honestly believe you’d think I’d enjoy that.” I pull the frisbee out of my satchel and toss it, and he shoots off.
“Is that your furry friend?” Cat says on the other end.
“Yes. I’d introduce you, but he has no interest in other women.”
“You’re so cute, I can’t blame him. He probably spends all day just mooning over you.”
