Kat soon had her cheeseburger, fries, and chocolate shake to work on. She dipped her fries in the shake in between bites of her burger.
“I didn’t know anyone really did that,” said a familiar voice. Silas smiled at her, and then gestured at the empty seat across from her. “Can I join you?”
Kat had barely spoken to Silas since he’d told her to watch herself with Gavin. Before that, Silas had stopped by Gavin’s more than once to check on her, but the meetings had ended after that weird conversation at school.
At the moment, she was tempted to tell him she was in a hurry, but instead, she found herself falling back to her usual polite self. Apparently Midwestern politeness had rubbed off on her since moving here.
“Sure,” she said without enthusiasm.
Silas slid into the booth and grabbed a fry from her plate. “I’m starving.”
“Then you should order something.” Kat wasn’t about to share her fries along with her company. She had her limits.
Silas snagged another fry, clearly enjoying her annoyance. “I had no idea you hated sharing food.”
“I don’t. Just French fries.”
“Sure, okay.”
Silas ordered his lunch and proceeded to watch Kat eat. She tried to come up with something to say, but her brain just couldn’t find the words. Besides, Silas had invited himself to sit with her: he could start the conversation. Apparently I’m extra petty when I’m grumpy, she thought wryly.
“How are you doing? I feel like we don’t talk anymore.” Silas’s expression was sad.
Kat instantly felt guilty. Silas was a little strange, but he didn’t mean any harm. She gave him a halfhearted smile. “I’m sorry. I’ve just been busy.”
Silas traced an invisible line on the tabletop. “I was afraid of this, you know. This always happens when my female friends start dating somebody.” He didn’t look up at her, but instead watched his own finger. “The boyfriend always gets jealous of me.”
Kat blinked at him. “Gavin isn’t my boyfriend.” He’s not my anything now, she thought morosely.
“He’s not?” Silas’s gaze shot to hers.
“I mean, we’re not official.” It was true-ish.
“Oh. Well. My point still stands.”
Silas’s grilled cheese and tomato soup arrived. He tore off a piece of his sandwich and watched the cheese stretch. “Look at that. Beautiful.”
“Gavin has nothing to do with me being busy,” she said.
Silas raised an eyebrow in obvious disbelief.
Kat found herself blushing. “I mean, he isn’t the reason I haven’t been available lately. That’s my fault and my fault only. Gavin doesn’t dictate who I get to hang out with.”
Silas’s face closed. “So you’re saying you’re avoiding me because you don’t want to talk to me.”
“I mean, what you said to me about having to watch myself with Gavin…” She shook her head. “You keep saying he’s going to hurt me or something. And he’s never hurt me—“
She stopped, because he had hurt her. He’d pushed her away. Maybe that hadn’t been what Silas had been warning her about, but he hadn’t been wrong, either.
Silas reached out and touched her hand. “I’m just worried about you. Can’t we be friends again?”
“I don’t know,” she answered honestly.
His fingers closed around her hand. “That’s not fair, and you know it.”
“I’m just trying to be honest.”
“You haven’t been honest this entire conversation.” His fingers dug into her hand to the point that she felt the bite of his fingernails. Then just as suddenly, he let her hand go.
“I think I’ll take this to-go.” He got up and grabbed one of the to-go containers, sloshing almost half of his tomato soup onto the table. “See you around, Kat.”
After Silas had left, Leslie wiped up the spilled soup. “Goodness, he had a bee in his bonnet, didn’t he?”
Kat felt her burger and fries congeal in her stomach. “I should get back to school.”
Leslie looked more closely at Kat’s face. “You okay, honey? You’re looking pale. Are you coming down with something?”
“I just—I need to go.”
Inside her car, Kat forced herself to take deep breaths. She didn’t know what was up with Silas, but something in her gut told her to stay away from him.
Gavin isn’t the man I have to watch out for.
On a blustery Friday before Halloween, Kat was trying to keep her kids from completely losing focus. They were excited about dressing up and going trick-or-treating, not to mention comparing their costume ideas with the other kids’. When one boy found out another was also going as Captain America, you would’ve thought it had been revealed the first boy had murdered the other’s puppy.
As Kat took role, she realized that Emma wasn’t in class. She frowned. Mrs. Gentry hadn’t mentioned that Emma was absent today, but maybe she’d forgotten. Everyone seemed to be distracted today. But something niggled in the back of Kat’s mind. She sent a text message to Mrs. Gentry. Is Emma Danvers sick today?
Mrs. Gentry messaged back immediately. No, why? Is she not in computer class?
Kat felt ice drip down her spine. Was Emma hiding somewhere again? But Kat couldn’t leave her kids, so she sent another message to Mrs. Gentry and asked her to begin looking for Emma.
By the end of her class, Kat was a bundle of nerves. Mrs. Gentry came up to her and said in a low voice, “Go tell Principal Layton. Now.”
That meant Mrs. Gentry hadn’t found Emma. Kat walked as quickly as she could without alerting suspicion, her heart pounding in her chest. She checked the closet where Emma had hidden before, but it was locked. Although there was no way the girl could’ve gotten a key, Kat knocked on the door anyway.
“Emma, are you in there?”
Silence. Where could she have gone?
Outside, the wind was blowing harder, and it was starting to rain. She needed to call Gavin. Maybe he
