Page 47 of Her Wicker Guardian

“Before privacy.”

“Yes.”

“And you looked.”

She closes her eyes.

I wait until she opens them. “You are learning way too fast.”

“That is not an answer.”

“No, it’s not.”

A smile starts forming before I can stop it. Rachel catches it immediately.

“You’re enjoying this.”

“Yes.”

“You’re impossible.”

“I learned impossible too.”

The sound I wanted her to make finally comes, half laugh and half complaint.

The phone in her hand makes noise. Rachel looks at the screen, and the humor leaves her face.

I watch her thumb move.

She presses something, and the ringing stops.

“You said no,” I say.

“Yes.”

“He asked again.”

“He didn’t ask. He called.”

I think about that. “Same thing.”

Rachel looks at me for a long moment.

“Sometimes,” she says.

A different sound comes from the direction of the road. Both of us turn. This engine is familiar before it reaches the driveway.

“Shannon,” I say.

Rachel looks surprised. “You can tell?”

“The sound is different from yours.”

“I should’ve guessed.”

The SUV turns onto the gravel. I hear it stop out front, then a door closes. We go out into the yard to greet her. A moment later Shannon comes around the cottage carrying several long pieces of paper rolled beneath one arm.

“We have a problem.”