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“You live next to him?” Josh asks.
“A couple miles down.”
“In the house Mabel used to live in,” Nina says. “She died last spring. On her couch.” Nina shudders. “I’m never sitting on that couch.”
“After Mabel died, her niece inherited the house,” I tell Josh. “She’s friends with my mom and offered to let me stay there until I can save up some money.”
Josh nods. “It’s too bad they can’t recover any of it.”
He’s referring to the money my dad stole. The investigators haven’t been able to find any of it. They also can’t find my dad. My guess is that he fled the country and is now living it up on some tropical island.
“Have you heard any updates about the case?” he asks.
“No.” I’m glad to be off the topic of Kyle but this topic isn’t any better. “The police don’t bother me anymore. My mom checks in with them but only because she’s afraid he might try to contact her again.”
“Why would he do that? He’d risk getting caught.”
“I know, which is why he never would. I’m not sure why she thinks he might. I don’t ask her about him. She’s still hurting over what he did to her.”
“That’s too bad.”
“Yeah,” I mutter, wishing he’d stop talking about this.
Nina turns to Josh. “So going back to Kyle, I think you should go over there.”
“Now you’re talking to me?” He grins. “Now that you want something?”
“It’s not for me. It’s for Sage. She can’t have some psychopath living next door. He could sneak in her house at night and kill her.”
“Josh, don’t,” I say. “I mean it. Going over there would be harassing him. He didn’t do anything wrong.”
“Fine. I’ll leave him alone, but if you have any trouble with him or want me to come back and pay him a visit, just let me know.” He takes out his wallet and pulls out a business card. “Here’s my number, since Nina probably got rid of it.”
“It’s still in my phone.” She picks up a wad of fries. “But only because I didn’t get around to deleting it.”
“You ever gonna explain what I did to make you hate me so much?”
“I don’t hate you,” she says defensively. “Why would you think that?”
“Because you dumped me on a text and never talked to me again.” He grabs some of her fries and shoves them in his mouth.
“It was just easier that way. A clean break.”
“I think you at least owe him a reason,” I say, taking a drink of my soda.
Josh smiles at me. “I agree.”
“Fine.” She shoves her plate aside. “I broke up with you because it would never work. You live too far away. I need to be with a guy I can see every day.”
“So move to Kansas City.”
She huffs. “Ihave to move? Why don’tyoumove?”
Her use of the present tense makes Josh smile. It implies she’d consider dating him again.
“You always said you wanted out of this town,” he points out.
“Yeah, but I can’t afford a big city. The rent’s too high.”
