Page 4 of Unraveled

It had to be something with that phone call.It was the stuff at the end about my mom that didn’t make sense.

Katy came over, pulling me from my thoughts. “Thanks.” She held out my phone, and I set it down on the counter. “Who’s Ruby? She tried to call while I was on the phone.”

“Oh, just someone I work with at my dad’s shop.”

“Ah, cool.” Katy grabbed her purse off the shelf behind the register and dug around to pull out some gum. She held out the pack, offering me a piece, but I waved it off.

“Remember to clock out,” I told her as she popped a piece in her mouth.

“Oh, right.” Her eyes widened as she darted to the back alcove by the office, and I flipped my phone over as it buzzed with a text.

Ruby: What’s up? Haven’t seen you at work lately.

Me: Working down at Riptide today. Bored as hell. It’s dead. You?

Ruby: Heading down to the beach with Shelby and Gio in a minute.

Me: With the weather?

Ruby: Gio’s convinced it’s supposed to clear up after lunch.

Me: I doubt it.

Ruby: I know, but maybe. We’ll probably get food first, give it some time. Maybe we’ll swing around your end.

Me: Smart. Breaker Ridge beaches beat that shit y’all have in Outer Ridge any day.

Ruby: Is that supposed to be a burn? Cuz it can’t hurt if it’s true. Ours suck compared to yours.

Me: Still think it’s gonna rain.

Ruby: Tell it to my cousin. We’re heading out. Talk later. Have fun at work.

Me: Later.

I looked up as Katy came back out. “Took you a while.”

“Yeah, the computer and I had words. Turns out I kept typing in my number wrong. Thought I was going crazy. Oh, and fair warning, Megan’s probably gonna be in a bad mood when she gets here. If she comes in.” She hopped onto the stool behind the other end of the counter, slipped off, and hopped up again, almost knocking a picture down.

I turned to face her. “Why will Megan be in a bad mood?”

“Cuz her boyfriend’s in the slammer.”

I nearly dropped my phone. “What? Why?”

She popped a shoulder. “He got busted with drugs at the party last night.”

“What?” My brow jumped up.

“Yep.” Katy smacked her gum. “She’s planning on dumping him, too, which, I mean,finally. I know y’all are friends, but I never liked him. David washot, though…”

Her prattling became white noise as I took that in, trying to think back to everything that went down in the chaos last night. Most of our crew had taken off right away when Tucker spotted the lights in the distance, but there’d been plenty of cars still trying to get out. I tried to picture where we’d parked and whose cars might have been blocked in…

“Jet? Jet.”

“Sorry.” I shook my head. “I’m just shocked.”

“I’m surprised you didn’t know. I mean, you’re friends with most of the people who were there, and Megan was on the phone with Emma this morning. Guess they made up. Her dad’s such a dick. But yeah, Emma’s pretty upset. From what I could overhear, neither of them even knew their guysdiddrugs. Now, with Mateo, I can see it. He’s been so dedicated to that scholarship stuff this year, but David? Please. Could my sister be any more dense? He’s the onedealingthem.”

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