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“Yeah, just thinking,” Sierra replied, giving her a half-smile.
“That’s good. Thinking is good.” Jen laughed and there was a slight pause. “So, while you’re thinking, I’d like to chat about something else that’s close to my heart.” Sierra’s internal alarm bells started ringing. “You know you’re sitting on the biggest scoop of the year, don’t you? Biggest scoop of the century, even.”
Sierra drew in a sharp breath. Even though she’d known this was probably coming, she still wasn’t ready for it. That wasn’t the reason she’d wanted to search for the girl. To help save the girl. A journalistic coup was the furthest thing from her mind.
“You know I would never pressure you if I thought it would do you harm,” Jen prompted quietly.
Sierra snorted her response. But Jen was right. Yes, she’d pushed her to get back into journalism, but only when she thought the time was right. Just because Sierra had refused, didn’t mean the other woman was wrong. Sierra just hadn’t been ready back then. But now, she might well be the best person to tell the story. To tell Jessica’s story. Her own story. And the story of a monster. Perhaps if she told it right, it might help others. Might help the families of the abducted girls find a little closure. Make sure other families kept an extra vigilant eye on their young children, safe from predators like Damien. Because people like him would never go away, but her story might make them think twice before they acted.
At Sierra’s lack of response, Jen sighed and said, “All right, but please, promise me you’ll at least think about it.”
“I will, Jen, I will think about it.”
“Really? That’s great.” Her friend’s face split in a wide grin, teeth white against her brown skin, and Sierra grinned along with her. More at the sight of Jen’s bed-head hair that was still sticking up in odd tufts. “You know there’s always a job at The Advertiser for you. Even if you just want to do freelance stuff. You’re way too talented to be doing articles for that little Islander piece of fluff that calls itself a newspaper.”
Sierra laughed. The sound startled her. It felt good. She hadn’t laughed like that for a while. Not since she and Reed…
Better to leave that thought alone. She wanted to get up and wrap her friend in an enveloping hug. To say thank you for being there for her. For kicking her butt when she needed it. But her cast made it too awkward, so she reached over and grabbed Jen’s hand, instead.
“You’re a real piece of work, Jen,” she said.
“Yeah, I know.” Jen squeezed her hand tight.
“But I love you anyway.”
“Yeah, I know that, too.”
They sat in companionable silence, just grinning at each other until the faint scrunch of tires on gravel made Sierra look up. A car had pulled into her driveway. The sound of feet pattering down the hallway reached her, as her mum went to open the front door. Good, Aileen could deal with whoever it was.
“I’m going to get dressed.” Jen hoisted herself out of her seat, grabbing her now-cold coffee on the way into the house.
“And brush your hair,” Sierra called after her.
“Sierra.” Aileen’s voice drifted through the house as her mum hurried to the glass door and opened it wide. “Darling, there’s someone here to see you.”
“Who?”
“It’s Reed.”
Sierra’s stomach filled with fluttering butterflies at the mention of his name. Then her heart plummeted. She couldn’t see him. Not now.
“I don’t want to talk to him. Can you please tell him to come back another day?”
“Nope. I’m going to let him in, and you are going to talk to him.”
“What?” Sierra gasped. She started to protest. “That’s not really fair. I’m stuck here like an invalid. You can’t make me—”
Aileen cut her off. “I’ve been watching you mope around these past few days. At first, I thought it was because of what you’d been through. My God, you nearly died.” Her mother’s voice hitched as she said this and Sierra opened her mouth, but Aileen held up her hand to stop her talking. “But you’re strong, Sierra. I can see that. No, it’s something else that’s got you into such a misery. And now I know what it is. It’s this man. I honestly never thought you would find anyone again, after…what happened. I think you need someone in your life, Sierra. And I think he might be good for you, no matter what he did. You need to forgive yourself. It wasn’t your fault. And it wasn’t his fault. It was a terrible accident. Nothing more, nothing less. You need to give him a chance.”
Sierra stared at her mother, openmouthed. She’d always been very careful what she said around Sierra, especially after the accident; after she lost Grace. As if she were afraid Sierra might break if she said the wrong thing.
“So, I’m going to let him in, and you are going to talk to him.” She didn’t give Sierra a chance to reply, just turned on her heel and disappeared back inside.
What should she do? She was stuck now. Could only make the best of a bad situation.
Jen materialized at the door while Sierra was still contemplating her next move. She was pulling a sweater over her head, and trying to pat her hair into place. “I’m going to take your mum for a walk. I need to go down and visit that gorgeous little beach.”
What the hell? Was this some kind of conspiracy? Jen hated walking.
