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I can see Skylar’s car at the top of the hill. She’s taken care to park it under a tree and away from any streetlights. She wants to stay out of sight.
What the hell is going on?
The inside of the car is illuminated from the glow her phone is giving off. She doesn’t see me approaching so she startles when I tap on the window.
She takes a deep breath and then starts the car so she can lower the window. She’s back to cool as a cucumber Skylar, but now it’s not too hard to see past the mask she wears.
“Hey.” She says it like there’s nothing peculiar about this situation, as if camping out in her car is no biggie.
I make an effort to be quiet and gentle when I ask, “What are you doing?”
“Just reading,” she says before lowering her head, and I can tell from her breathing and the way her shoulders move up and down that she’s crying.
“Hey, hey…” I go to the other side of the car and get into the passenger seat. “Tell me what’s going on.” She doesn’t answer, so I reach over to touch her cheek, careful and slow, and turn her to face me. “You can talk to me.”
It takes her a few seconds and a few shaky breaths before she says anything. “I rented a summer sublet. I didn’t know the girl personally…It was like a friend of a friend of a friend thing. The place is a dump. I mean, I knew that from the outset, but there are people coming and going all day and all night. It’s like a twenty-four-hour house party. And the people are…”
“What?”
“I don’t know…Older? Weird? Sketchy is the word I’d use, I guess.”
“So you haven’t been sleeping there?”
“I did the first couple of nights, but I was awake most of the time. My bedroom is on the first floor, so it’s not like I can escape the noise. And then some guy, a friend of Holly’s boyfriend came knocking on my door the last night I was there. I met him the day before I drove home when I went to drop off the rent.” She lowers her head. “Let’s just say I knew from that first impression that I shouldn’t open my door.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?”
“It’s not as bad as I’m making it sound.”
“That’s bullshit.”
“Leo…”
“Drive to the house.”
“No!”
“I meanmyhouse. You’re staying there tonight and then we’ll get your situation sorted out tomorrow.”
“I don’t need—”
“Stop.” I have no patience for her Miss Independence routine right now. “Sometimes youdoneed help, Sky. We all do. Nowplease, let’s go. Olivia’s still awake and she’s acting like a maniac. I have to get her to bed.”
Her eyes nearly bug out of her head as she puts the car into drive. “You left her there alone?”
“No, Max is there.”
Shit…Max and a few other people.
Part Four
All That Heaven Will Allow
Chapter Thirty-Two
Skylar
Wetting my pants in third grade when the substitute teacher wouldn’t let me use the bathroom? Getting caught by my pastor trying to buy cigarettes when I was fifteen? Filing a police report on my father with more than a few of my neighbors working in the precinct? Not one of those incidents compares to this.
