Page 18 of Sneak Attack

I was no saint or hero, but I’d held back from doingeverythingI wanted.

In this, though, I’d take her suggestion. Considering she might jump off the boulder and bolt back to Marley’s if I moved too close, I tossed the blanket Ma sent with me onto the ground and proceeded to open the bottle of wine.

Her gaze was a physical touch against my skin, making it prickle even though I didn’t look at her while I uncorked the bottle and poured her a glass.

I handed it to her and grabbed a beer out of the cooler. I was sitting at an angle so I could see her, but mostly focused on the lake. At least that was how I appeared. I tracked every move she made, including watching to see if that glass of wine would be dumped onto my head.

There were things I wanted to say to her. I still wanted to scream and shake her and be pissed she’d left, ran away and left me to handle the fallout of our decisions alone. I’dneededher then, more than I needed anyone else, and she bailed. That was a hurt I wasn’t anywhere close to being over, but I also had questions for her.

Trying to find the ones to start with was the hard part.

Fortunately, it was Eden who went first. “I took Marley to the doctor the other day.”

“Any good news?”

“He said she’ll see Christmas if she’s lucky.”

I closed my eyes at the thought of Marley being gone. And so quickly. This fall would fly by and soon I’d be in the midst of the season, life. At least I’d spent most of the summer with her.

“That’s not good news.”

“Nope.” She popped thepand took a drink. “And even if she makes it, she’ll hardly be able to enjoy it. She’s already starting to forget things. Last week she made a pot of coffee as soon as she woke up. This morning, she stared at it like she’d never seen the thing before.”

Damn. That was bad.

“Ma and Dad are here to help if you need it, you know.”

“I know.”

There was a bite to her words I hadn’t expected. But Ma wouldn’t be mean to Eden. She’d always liked her.

“Marley loves Christmas.” I muttered it more to myself than the devilish little angel sitting in my favorite place, the only girl I’d ever hung out there with. Funny, how I never brought Hilary out here, all those years we were together. Definitely not Selma. Since Eden, the only other person who’d plopped their backside on the boulder with me had been Jasper and Bongo. It was sacred to me, somehow, this place with her where we stole so many moments and had so many arguments and came so close to betraying someone we’d both loved.

“I’ll make sure it’s special for her then.” Eden’s voice wobbled and I fought not to go to her, to comfort her.

“The whole town will, I’m sure.”

“Great,” she muttered under her breath. “Can’t wait to see everyone.”

She’d thought everyone hated her back then. She’d been wrong then and she was wrong now, but I didn’t come here tonight to tell her how she had everything messed up in her head. She’d have to learn that for herself. In truth, the only person who still hated the very mention of her was Selma. But that was because she’d caught on to Eden and me long before graduation night, and I’d always known, ever since Hilary and I started dating as freshman that Selma would have stepped right up to be next in line to date me if Hilary and I hadn’t worked out, best friends be damned.

“How are your parents?” I asked instead. Rehashing the past wouldn’t help anything.

“They’re fine, I guess.”

She took a healthy swig of her wine, larger than she had been.

“What’s that mean?”

“Means we don’t talk much. Dad’s still working, somewhere in Missouri now. They do their thing, I do mine.”

“Honestly?” They’d been close. She was an only child who said she’d never even wanted a sibling growing up like so many other only kids because her parents had always been cool to hang out with. They definitely were in high school.

Not the kind of cool where they were buying kegs for field parties or anything, but they were fun. Angie could bust out into dance moves that would have the teenage girls joining in and more than one guy in our school had called her a MILF.

“Yup.” Another pop of thepand she stared off into the lake.

“Where you been then?” Because she didn’t justleave, she vanished. Here one day and the next, all social media accounts gone. No trace of her. I once found an envelope in Marley’s house, in handwriting I knew had to be Eden’s. I was in college then and as soon as Marley wasn’t looking, I grabbed it. Flipped it over.

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