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“Everything ok?” I was afraid to ask.
“I just need a minute.”
I sat next to her. “You’ve been here for half an hour. Have you been on the phone the whole time?”
“No,” she whispered.
I took the phone from her hand and laid it on the bedside table. “What’s going on?”
She shook her head. “I-I just need a second. I’ll be back out.”
I saw the forced smile on her face. Damn it. Part of me wanted to walk out of the room and pretend she could pull herself together and we’d start off where we left things when the phone rang. Then the other part of me looked at her. Mascara smudged, eyes red, and I knew spending the night with me was the last thing on her mind.
I kicked off my shoes, and laid down next to her. At first she was reluctant to move, but I managed to pull her against my chest. Her head rested over my heart. I ran my fingers through her hair. I didn’t know if I should try to get her to talk, or wait for her to say something.
“Did you get some bad news?”
She was silent. I don’t know how many minutes ticked by before she finally spoke.
“It’s my sister.” Her voice was almost too quiet to hear.
“Did something happen?” I didn’t expect it, but there was a knot in my stomach. A sense of dread moved in. I stopped playing with her hair and my hand pressed deeply against her hip.
“Yes and no.”
I was out of my element. I kept my mouth shut while she talked.
“Something happened to my sister.”
“Is she ok?”
“It’s been almost five years since she’s been gone.” Sydney talked slowly. Slower than I had ever heard her.
I had no idea what to say. There was a lump in my throat. “Did she? Is she?”
“She’s not dead.”
“Oh.” I was confused.
“She ran away. I haven’t seen her in five years. Or my niece.” She straightened her back, until she was sitting up, looking at me. “She’s in hiding.”
“Darlin’, I’m not following.”
Sydney sighed. “It started when I was in high school. She’s older than me. She was dating this guy. Not a good guy. We thought he was hanging around with a bad crowd, you know? Making bad choices. Doing stupid stuff. But Hailey couldn’t see it. She thought he was going through some things and he would change. But he didn’t. He got more involved, and it made him unpredictable. Angry.”
“What was he doing?”
“He worked at the train station, at the ticket booth.”
“Well, that sounds legit.”
Her head turned, so her eyes were locked on mine. “It wasn’t. He used it as a way to sell stolen merchandise. Eventually, it led to drugs. At least that’s what we think.”
“I’ll stop asking questions. You tell me what happened.”
“Anyway, Brian was running this side business, and it was taking over his life. Then Hailey found out she was pregnant. She swore he would marry her and they would raise the baby together and everything would work out.” She closed her eyes.
“What happened?”
