“Why?”
“You know why!” Jamie glared at her daughter. “Don’t put on this act. Don’t.” She felt herself near tears. All day, she’d managed to hold herself together, to keep Gwen’s face out of her mind, but she couldn’t anymore.
“I just wanted to be with my friends. I don’t know why that’s so hard for you.”
Jamie shook her head, not trusting her voice. She was glad Emma and Duchess were upstairs.
Harley’s shoulders slumped. “Next time I’ll tell you first.”
Jamie’s cell phone rang. It was still in her hand and she looked down at it, realizing Vicky was calling. She inhaled a calming breath and turned away from her daughter. Vicky didn’t call, she texted. “Hello,” she answered.
“Oh, God, Jamie! I heard about Gwen! Oh my God. Oh, dear God! What’s the world coming to?”
“I don’t know.”
“Things have just fallen to hell.” Vicky started crying, and that made Jamie grit her teeth, fighting back emotion. “I know you heard about Tyler. He’s an idiot. I can’t talk about it without crying. But Gwen . . . Is there anything I can do for you?”
“Thank you, Vic . . . toria No, I’m okay. It was a shock.”
“Do you need anything?”
“No.”
“Have you heard what happened?”
“They’ll know more tomorrow, I think.”
“I want to go see Bette. I think she might be coming home tomorrow. They throw them out of the hospital as soon as they can these days. I’ll call you and let you know about her?”
“Yes. Thanks. Please do.”
“Okay . . .” She was sniffling now. “Don’t know if you heard, but Alicia’s taking Troy away from Deon’s control. Race and Deon are about to get foreclosed on if they don’t sell their house. I’m trying to get them going so they’ll have something from a sale—the property is valuable—but they’re not listening to me, or anyone else.”
Jamie made appropriate sounds of condolence.
“Okay. If you hear anything more about Gwen, or about Bette’s attack or Laura’s daughter’s, call me, please.”
“I’ll try.”
Once she was off the phone, Jamie turned back around. Harley had left the kitchen. Good. She needed a moment to process.
When Cooper walked through the door a few minutes later, she stood still for a moment. Don’t cry, she warned herself. Don’t cry. Don’t do anything stupid.
“What happened?” he asked, coming toward her.
She shook her head, her eyes burning.
After a moment, he folded her into his arms and she collapsed against him.
* * *
Harley heard the door open, and a deep, male voice. Mr. Haynes. She opened her bedroom door carefully—it had a tendency to squeak—then tiptoed down the hall. She saw her mom wrapped in Mr. Haynes’s embrace, and that caught her up short. She didn’t know how to feel about that. Sort of jealous, maybe.
But then she remembered how Greer had taken her hand across the table when she’d asked where everybody else was. “It’s just you and me,” he said. Everyone else had flaked out, he’d added, but all she could think about was his hand holding hers.
Then he’d asked, “Did you tell about Tyler and Katie?”
She’d instantly gone cold. Was torn between lying a little and lying a lot. She couldn’t tell the truth. She’d be a rat. The lowest of the low.
“Is that why you invited me to Deno’s?” she’d asked in a small voice. She had to know.
“You’re the only one I told.”
“What about Tyler . . . and Katie? Who’d they tell?”
“I don’t know.”
She’d pulled back her hand reluctantly. She liked Greer. A lot. She liked his sense of humor, the way his hair fell over his forehead, the color of his eyes, the shape of his lips, everything. But she was afraid he might be toying with her. He was good friends with Troy, and Troy had said those things about Emma.
“Well, maybe we should just order pizza,” she said, looking away from him.
She saw his eyes narrow, as if he were calculating something. A long, silent few minutes went by. Finally, he said, “We made kind of a pact. We’d see how far we could get with you guys.”
“What do you mean?”
“The sophomore girls.” He flicked her a look, then glanced away. “Tyler obviously got the farthest with Katie. Troy wanted you, and we were fighting about it the night we went to the house where Marissa was babysitting. We thought you were there, but then you weren’t.”
Harley could feel her face heat with the betrayal of it. “You didn’t go inside and—”
“No,” he said swiftly. “No way. That was . . . I don’t know what that was. That wasn’t us. But that night was the end of the pact. It was stupid. Tyler’s idea. I don’t know why. Maybe he had a thing for Katie but couldn’t tell Dara.”
“So, you just wanted to tell me that? That’s why we’re here?”
“I wouldn’t have told you about Tyler and Katie if that was all it was.” He met her gaze.
Harley’s emotions were yo-yoing. One moment she was on cloud nine, the next in the depths of despair, the next somewhere in between. “So, what is this, then?” She motioned to include the two of them in the booth.
“A date?”
They’d never gotten in line to order pizza. They’d just sat in the booth and talked. Harley looked around and realized she would never make it home in time if they ordered now. “I have to walk home in like twenty minutes.”
“I’ll drive you. That gives us a few more.”
“Okay.”
He ordered them each a Coke and they sat across from each other and pretty much just stared at each other and smiled the rest of the time. When he pulled up in front of her house, he leaned over and kissed her lightly on the lips. Then they’d bumped fists and he’d said, “See you tomorrow,” and Harley had tripped up the steps to the house and rung the bell.
And
