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I wasn’t lying when I said I stand with him. I do.
Does that mean he’ll stand with me?
I could tell him what’s going on. Maybe he could make it all go away.
The key.
The key in the glasses case in Donny’s bathroom.
I’d forgotten until this moment. That’s what I’m here to find.
“Could you excuse me?” I rise. “I just need to…you know. The bathroom.”
“Sure, baby.” Donny attempts a smile. “You can use the one in my room. Down the hall to your right. Though I guess you know that, since you guys were here cleaning when Dad first got shot.”
“Right, thanks.” I force a smile and head out of the kitchen toward the hallway leading to Donny’s room.
I brush my hands over my arms to ease the chill that erupts.
I’m about to steal something from Donny’s bathroom.
I don’t even know if it’s my key.
I gulp loudly as I enter Donny’s room and close the door behind me. I don’t lock it. Don’t want to look suspicious. I head to the bathroom and close the door, locking it.
Then I stare at the mirrored cabinet.
I’m here. All I need to do is open it, look inside the glasses case, and take the key.
Maybe I don’t even need to take it. If the box number isn’t mine, I’ll leave it. Donny has a safe-deposit box in Denver. He lived there for ten years. No big deal. Makes perfect sense.
I’m frozen, though. Numb. All I can do is stare at the face in the mirror and wonder who it actually belongs to.
This isn’t Callie Pike.
Nice, good, invisible Callie Pike.
Except Callie Pike wasn’t invisible. Not all those years ago. The sister of the homecoming queen is never invisible.
I’ve been lying to myself.
I was never invisible. I never had an acne problem. One or two zits at a time at most. Sure, Rory never had any, but one or two zits at fifteen years old is not an acne problem.
I stare again at the stranger in the mirror, and before me she transforms.
She’s no longer twenty-six, but fifteen.
Yes, one pimple on the chin. A small one.
And she’s not invisible.
“Callie,” Mom calls, “Are you ready? We’re going to be late.”
I put the last touches on my makeup. It’s silly, really. The only reason I’m the sophomore homecoming attendant is because my sister’s the queen. Still, I have to be at the game, have to be escorted by a football player and ogled on the field during halftime.
It’s really Rory’s big night—if being crowned the most beautiful and popular girl in high school means it’s a big night.
For Mom—a former beauty queen herself—it’s a huge night.
She’s reliving vicariously through Rory.
I wish I’d gone earlier with Rory. She went over with Jesse, who’s the emcee for the homecoming ceremony and the commentator for tonight’s game, along with Donny Steel, who came in from Denver for the occasion. Jesse and Donny are old football rivals—if you can be rivals when you play for the same team.
Somehow, they’re still rivals.
But they were both asked to do the honors tonight. I’m not sure why. Jesse, probably because of Rory. Donny? Why would he come all the way home from law school in Denver to announce a high school football game at his alma mater?
I don’t know.
Doesn’t matter anyway.
But I’ll be there. Zits and all. Part of the homecoming court, courtesy of my big sister.
My eyes pop open. When did I close them?
Present me stares back at me in the mirror.
Donny was there.
That night.
Donny was there.
How had I forgotten?
Probably because it wasn’t the biggest part of the evening. At that time, Donny Steel was a rival of my big brother’s. Sure, I’d crushed on his brother, Dale, during those years, but that was only because everyone crushed on Dale Steel, even though he was so much older. He was so gorgeous and quiet and brooding… Who wouldn’t crush on him?
Donny… I never gave Donny a thought during those years. He left Snow Creek when I was a mere eleven years old and was only home for holidays and major events. I never gave him a look, and of course, he never gave me a look because I was just a kid back then.
But now…
My God…
He was there.
Donny was there.
I reach toward the mirrored cabinet, my hand visibly shaking.
I open the door.
Scan the shelves.
Ibuprofen. Aftershave. Cologne.
The eyeglasses case—and the key inside it—are gone.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Donny
“I want to call it off,” I say again.
“Call what off?” Ashley asks.
“Don, no. We’ve come this far.” Dale scratches his temples. “We can’t. This is too important.”
“Excuse me. Call what off?” Ashley echoes herself.
I sigh. “I’ll explain. But let’s wait until Callie gets back. Except I wish I could protect her from this.”
“She already knows some of it,” Dale says. “It’s up to you. I can tell Ash later, and you don’t have to—”
