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A call to the coroner in Don’s childhood city got her the news she’d been waiting for. Sometimes things come together faster and better than expected, and she hung up with a smile when the other man confirmed that they had the go-ahead to exhume the bodies of Don’s parents, which, if what she suspects is true, will bring Stella’s body count up to about ten. The woman had been very prolific.
Marissa was headed to the lockers after gym class when the cell phone that was supposed to be off chimed in her pocket. She didn’t look right away because everyone who would be texting her was right here, so it couldn’t be that important. She dropped her sweaty clothes and hopped into the shower to wash off before getting dressed again in the room filled with female chatter and ragging.
The chime sounded again, and thinking it must be something important for the person to be so persistent, she hid herself away in a corner, not that any of her peers would tattle, but there’s always some jealous bitch out to make trouble so better safe than sorry.
When she read the words on the screen, she felt first sick, then panicked. It didn’t make sense what she was reading, but the implications were even more heart-wrenching. She saw the past two years of hard work destroyed because she knew that no matter what happened, that would be the end result. There was no way she could keep this to herself.
“Marissa? What’s wrong? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” She looked through her friend Annabelle without seeing her as her heart broke into a thousand pieces. “What? Oh, I have to go.” She barely made it out of the showers before having to hold herself up against the wall as she fought off nausea.
This can’t be happening. She kept saying the same thing to herself over and over, but one look at the screen assured her that it was indeed true. She didn’t remember the walk to the nurse’s office or collecting her things and heading out to her car. Only when she was behind the wheel did she question whether or not she should drive in her state. But her home wasn’t that far; she could make it if she kept within the speed limit and stayed focus.
All she could think about was getting home under the covers and pulling them over her head. She should call her mom and dad, but she wasn’t ready for that yet. She’d wait until they came home. That would be time enough for her world to unravel. The first tear fell before she left the parking lot, and they didn’t stop until she pulled into her driveway, ran into the house, and threw up in the guest bathroom downstairs.
CHAPTER 6
Connie spent the first part of the morning in a daze. She didn’t hear the other kids horsing around on the bus and had been rather short with her best friend Anna when the other girl commented on the fact that she thought Connie’s new dad would be driving her to and from school from now on. Just hearing the words had almost sent Connie into a blind rage, but she bit her tongue until she tasted blood before giving the girl a terse answer.
Her chest still felt tight, and her eyes were just a bit red from crying as she stood at the bus stop waiting to be picked up. Luckily the other kid who waits at the same stop had been running late, and she was able to clean herself up and avoid any embarrassing questions.
Now she gazed out of the window of her fourth-period class at nothing. It felt like her whole world had come crashing down at the words she’d overheard. She’d awakened feeling so happy, thrilled even, at the prospect of all the fun new things she and her stepdad were going to do together.
She’d started calling him daddy tentatively, each time holding her breath, afraid of rejection. Her mom had encouraged her even, saying that it was time and made it seem as if he would reciprocate her feelings. The young girl had been so starved for fatherly affection, having spent her whole life watching from the sidelines as her friends got to do things with theirs, that the idea of having her very own dad had filled her with a pleasure she’d never known.
Some people might think that she was old enough not to need a dad, but that’s not the way she saw it. From the moment her mom married Ryan, she’d started weaving dreams around their relationship and how things were going to be in the future. At first, he was a bit standoffish, but her mom had assured her that things would change, and no one was more surprised than her when they indeed started to.
